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Congress dumps Bansi Lal

Angered by Haryana Chief Minister Bansi Lal's refusal to comply with its wishes to dissolve the assembly, the Congress today announced that it would henceforth have nothing to do with the government.

Congress general secretary and in-charge of Haryana affairs, Pranab Mukherjee said the party had supported the Bansi Lal government to ''defeat the designs of the Bharatiya Janata Party, imminent horse trading and its unprincipled withdrawal of support.''

The party was now disassociating with the Haryana Vikas Party government because with only 13 MLAs it could do very little in the 90-member house. The Congress certainly wanted dissolution as that was the best way of taking the political fight to the people. ''It will be for Bansi Lal to resolve any problem that will crop up,'' Mukherjee said.

The disassociation of the Congress may not have any immediate impact on the stability of the Bansi Lal government as it had won the confidence vote recently. But it will have an impact on the Lok Sabha election results, political observers said.

Mukherjee said the Congress had not set any pre-conditions for extending its support to the Bansi Lal government on June 25. It was the chief minister himself who had told the assembly that he would abide by the suggestions of the Congress president in determining the future course of action.

Mukherjee said Bansi Lal had the golden opportunity of going to the people to expose the ''unprincipled actions'' of his erstwhile ally, the BJP, and seek a fresh mandate.

There was no proposal from the Congress asking the HVP to merge with it, he said.

UNI

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