The state Congress leaders hardly ever disappoint Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala with a reason to hit out at their party.Today, the Congress leaders provided Chautala with another opportunity when they demanded to have a look at the ballot paper of former CM Bhajan Lal, to verify whether he had voted in accordance with the party whip.Chautala said in his inimitable style, ‘‘Kitni buri baat hai. Arre yeh tumhara party president hai, aise to na karo.’’On the contrary, no one wanted to look at the ballot paper of Chautala, who is also the Indian National Lok Dal chief, and former Chief Minister, Bansi Lal, who is Haryana Vikas Party chief.The Congress leaders denied they had any intention to embarrass the senior party leader. But the damage was done. Anil Vij, the polling agent of Tarlochan Singh, filed a complaint against the former CM for violating the secrecy of the poll process. In his complaint, he alleged that Bhajan Lal showed his vote to Ajay Singh Yadav, Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Kiran Chaudhary.Bhajan Lal himself could not have imagined that this would happen. The ailing leader came to vote in the Rajya Sabha polls, but was stopped before he could slip his ballot paper into the box. Congress election agent Captain Ajay Singh Yadav, flanked by Rohtak MP Bhupinder Singh Hooda and party candidate Kiran Chaudhary, reportedly saw his ballot paper.Bhajan Lal came with his son Chander Mohan, also an MLA, to cast his vote. He went straight to the polling enclosure and then to the ballot box. This caused some flutter among the Congress leaders, as all the others had allegedly shown their ballot papers to Yadav.‘‘I walked towards him (Bhajan) to see his vote as a matter of respect and also since he is not keeping well. There was no intention to embarrass him,’’ said Yadav.Chander Mohan downplayed the incident. ‘‘Yadav had the right to look at every ballot paper. He saw the paper and there was nothing more to the incident,’’ he said.
