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Chautala "hurt" by Advani's statement

Indian National Lok Dal leader and former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala today said he was hurt by Home Minister L K Advani's statement at Indore that his party's support does not matter much to the Vajpayee government.

Talking to newspersons, he said it had pained him that a senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader had said so. The party's proposed rally on October 17 at Jind in Haryana would decide whether it should continue or withdraw support to the coalition government, he said.

Chautala said he had talked to Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal in Chandigarh yesterday and discussed the issue. Badal supported his move and there would be no surprise if he also followed suit. The INLD has four members of Parliament.

"I met Mr Vajpayee and assured him his party support when he was not even the prime minister. In that meeting, Badal and former Delhi chief minister Madan Lal Khurana were also present."

Chautala said he was unhappy with the scant respect given to the INLD by the Vajpayee government and the BJP leadership.

If AIADMK leader J Jayalalitha threatens, prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee sends an emissary to persuade her. Even Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee had forced them to postpone elections for the deputy speakership.

Three days back threatened that the party will review its support to the Vajpayee government on October 17, till now, nobody from the government side or bjp tried to contact me to know the reason behind the move, he said.

Chautala said it had been wrongly reported that he had been threatening to withdraw support on the issue of removal of Sahib Singh Verma from the Delhi chief ministership.

"I have nothing to do with Sahib Singh. His removal from chief ministership is the BJP's internal matter.

But the BJP's decision showed its anti-farmer mentality. Sahib Singh belonged to the farmer's community, hence the INLD sympathies were with him, he said.

Secondly, Chautala said, he was also against change of a chief minister when elections were round the corner. If it was necessary to effect the change, somebody who could lead the party to victory should have been brought, not a weak person like Sushma Swaraj.

The Haryana leader was very much against Swaraj having been made Delhi chief minister. He said she had lost three Lok Sabha elections in Haryana. She was in fact the other side of Haryana Chief Minister Bansi Lal who had ruined Haryana and she would ruin Delhi. She was rejected by the Haryana people, now she will be rejected by the Delhi people, he asserted.

Chautala also ridiculed the Centre's move to induct Sahib Singh in the Union cabinet. He said Sahib Singh Verma had been removed ostensibly for poor performance. The centre will invite the wrath of the people if he was given a cabinet berth, he warned.

Expressing anger over the indifferent attitude towards some demands he put to the prime minister, Chautala said the Centre had resolved the Cauvery dispute but was not taking interest to resolve the Syl canal issue despite the fact that Eradi commission had submitted its report long ago. Water was going to Pakistan and people of Haryana were facing acute shortage of water, he pointed out.

According to informed sources, Chautala also called on Union Parliamentary Affairs and Tourism Minister Madan Lal Khurana at his residence this morning and expressed resentment over the Centre's indifference towards his party.

Khurana and Badal were instrumental in securing Chautala's party's support to the Vajpayee government.

According to the sources, Khurana was unhappy about the developments and said he was also thinking seriously about his next step. He, however, did not elaborate, the sources said.

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