What some of our politicians were up to on Tuesday, September 24, 2024.
Jannayak Janta Party, which had emerged as the kingmaker last assembly polls, was decimated this time round, while the Indian National Lok Dal also failed to create much impact, with prominent leaders of both outfits Dushyant Chautala and Abhay Singh Chautala losing their seats.
Bucking anti-incumbency, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party pulled off a hat-trick of wins in Haryana to retain power and halt Congress' comeback attempt in the assembly elections, results of which were announced on Tuesday.
Haryana has recorded a voter turnout of 67.90 per cent with Ellenabad assembly seat in Sirsa district witnessing the highest polling percentage at over 80 per cent, according to the updated figures of the Election Commission on Sunday.
The talks between two sides have been stuck over the number of seats to be contested by AAP, with the party demanding 10 seats and the Congress offering 5, party sources said.
The Congress has said the assembly polls results were "unexpected" and have alleged discrepancies in the EVMs in some seats.
Instead of harvesting the wrath against the BJP and using it to their advantage by opting for a collective form of leadership, the Congress decided once again to bestow their trust in the Hooda family who were given a free hand in the distribution of tickets. This turned out to be the biggest blunder and this faulty selection was the single over riding factor in the Congress defeat, explains Rashme Sehgal.
Farmers will march towards Delhi on Tuesday after a meeting with two Union ministers over their demands, including legal guarantee to minimum support price (MSP) for crops, remained inconclusive.
A team of three Union ministers will hold talks on Monday with a delegation of farmer leaders, who are planning to march towards Delhi to press for their demands.
One person was killed when a group of Sikhs clashed with Dera Sacha Sauda supporters in Dabwali town in Sisra district of Chandigarh on Friday morning.
The army was kept on standby and curfew imposed in Dabwali town in Haryana's Sirsa district on Friday after a group of Sikhs and supporters of the Dera Sacha Sauda fought pitched battles in which one person was killed and 30 injured. Late on Friday night, violence spread to Gukanwali village, about 25 km from Dabwali, as Sikhs attacked an ashram belonging to the Dera and set it on fire.
The toll plaza employees allowed vehicles to pass through without paying any charge.
According to farmer union leaders, peasants from various places including Sangrur, Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur and Bathinda districts were headed towards Singhu and Tikri borders.
A cases was registered on November 26 under sections 307 (attempt to murder), 147 (rioting), 149 (unlawful assembly), 186 (obstructing any public servant in discharge of public functions) and 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) among others at the Parao police station on a complaint from Head Constable Pardeep Kumar as hundreds of farmers assembled on the GT road near Ambala Cantt to proceed towards the national capital.
The agitating farmers had earlier said they would picket toll plazas to press their demand for a repeal of the three new laws, which were voted through in Parliament in September amid strong protests by opposition parties.
Police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the farmers who broke barricades in some places in Haryana.
Addressing mediamen at Wishvkarma Gurudwara at Mandi Dabwali, the president of the Shiromani Akali Dal Amritsar (Panj-Pardhani) Daljit Singh Bittu said the Dera chief should be arrested and his activities should be stopped by the Union government. Protestors will pray at the Golden temple in Amritsar on July 19 before leaving for Delhi, Bittu added.
Tractors carried the flags of the unions, some sported the tricolour, and also posters with slogans of 'Kisan Ekta Zindabad', 'No Farmer, No Food' and 'Kaale Kanoon Radd Karo'.
Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has been fielded again from Karnal.
There is more than what meets the eye to the wealth accumulated by Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal.
A day after it was set up, the Haryana government control room has so far got information about 45 persons from the state, stranded in strife-torn Iraq. Majority of those stranded in Iraq hail from the northern parts of Haryana
With a term ending in January 2017, he has to move fast to tackle the tough tasks cut out for him, says M J Antony.
'Every seat the Congress gets above 100 will keep pushing the Modi-Shah BJP lower in the dangerous sub-200 zone,' points out Shekhar Gupta.
The question we must ask is how do politicians get that wealth disclosed in the affidavits, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
The fate of 1,351 candidates will be sealed by 1.63 crore voters in high-stakes multi-cornered contest in Haryana which goes to polls on Wednesday with top guns including the kin of the three famous 'Lals' battling it out in the state.
Lunch with BS: Sukhbir Singh Badal, deputy chief minister, Punjab
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