Chandigarh :
A day after Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) patriarch Om Prakash Chautala hinted at the expulsion of his grandson from the party on October 25, Hisar MP Dushyant Chautala continues to adopt a defiant posture.

He has been suspended from the party and served a show-cause-notice in the wake of a feud with his uncle and Leader of the Opposition Abhay Singh Chautala. The fissures surfaced at INLD’s rally at Gohana on October 7 when Dushyant’s supporters created ruckus during Abhay’s speech.

“In an avalanche, a single flake of snow cannot be blamed. The thrust and force of each and every flake causes an avalanche,” Dushyant told, referring to the developments at the Gohana rally.

 On his next move in view of party’s disciplinary committee asked to submit a report by October 25, the MP said: “If the committee summons me, I will appear before it and clear my position.”

And what if the party expels him on October 25? “My father, Ajay Singh Chautala, has given 40 years to the party. And I have worked hard for the party for nine years — starting from a small-time worker campaigning in the Narwana Assembly constituency for my grandfather to campaigning for myself in Hisar,” he said, evading a direct reply.

Sources close to Dushyant say the MP does not intend to offer a written reply to the notice served on him on October 11.

In the notice, the party has accused Dushyant of indiscipline and hooliganism during birthday celebrations of Chaudhary Devi Lal and of “causing disaffection within the party and conspiring with forces inimical to the INLD by organising efforts to disrupt the biggest rally in the history of the state”.

“Dushyant has requested the party to provide him with recordings of the Gohana rally and sought 15 more days to reply. He is, however, yet to receive the notice,” the sources said.

Meanwhile, INLD working committee members, including MLAs, don’t know the names of members of the disciplinary committee.

Dushyant is aware that its chairman is Sher Singh Badshami, a former political adviser to Chautala during his term as the Chief Minister. But he, too, has no idea about the committee’s members.

“Such has been the discipline in our party that ever since its inception, need wasn’t felt to refer a matter to the disciplinary committee. This is for first time that a case has been referred to the committee. And that, too, not of an ordinary worker, but of a member of the Chautala clan,” said a senior party functionary.

Union leaders defiant | Policemen in uniform driving roadways’ buses

Chandigarh :
Commuters continued to be inconvenienced across Haryana due to the strike by Haryana Roadways (HR) employees’ unions. The strike has been extended till October 22.

Sarbat Singh Punia, a member of the Haryana Roadways Talmel Committee, while announcing the extension of strike by three more days, alleged that the state government was forcing the unions to go on strike by its adamant attitude on the implementation of the scheme for private buses on km basis. The move would open up the transport sector to private players, he alleged.

Meanwhile, even as the HR authorities requisitioned private buses, including school buses, to ferry commuters, passengers were left high and dry due to shortage of buses.

Rohtak: Major Opposition leaders, including former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda (Congress,) Abhay Chautala (INLD), Naveen Jaihind (AAP) and Inderjit Singh (CPM) on Friday supported striking employees.

Meanwhile, the HR authorities employed school buses and other private buses to facilitate the commuters.

Karnal: The police arrested 44 employees of Haryana Roadways on Thursday. Of them, 12 were sent to judicial custody, while the remaining 32 were granted bail. Nishant Yadav, ADC, said that of the total 184 roadways buses, 29 plied on their routes. For the remaining routes, they arranged private and school buses.

Yamunanagar: Ravinder Prakash Pathak, HR General Manager, said 145 buses, including 70 HR buses, plied from bus stands of Yamunanagar and Jagadhri. However, commuters had to wait for hours for buses. “I have been waiting for a bus to my village for an hour,” said Ritu of Devdhar village.

Panipat: The local depot authorities on Friday relieved seven contractual employees, while around 275 employees were on strike for the fourth consecutive day. Besides, the depot authorities claimed to have run 88 buses, out of which 28 school buses plied on local routes.

SP Parmar, General Manager, claimed 38 roadways buses had been sent on out-of-state routes on Thursday night, while 22 buses were on long routes early on Friday. In addition, 28 buses have been hired from private education institutions.

Hisar: The local administration, police and the HR authorities roped in several private buses from schools and a thermal power plant at Khedar village. However, transport services were far from normal in the region.

Sonepat: As a relief to commuters, the administration on Friday arranged 55 private buses from Sonepat depot and 23 roadways buses from Gohana sub-depot.

Faridabad: A majority of 198 buses remained off road. Employees claimed that less than 20 buses plied on Friday, while Bhupender Singh, GM, said over 75 buses plied.

Ambala: About 45 buses plied on local routes here, said Gagandeep Singh, GM. Meanwhile, services of two probationer and two contractual drivers were terminated.

Effigies of PM, CM burnt 

Kaithal: Activists of 12 Haryana Roadways employees’ unions burnt the effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar here on Friday. Meanwhile, the police arrested Jasbir Singh, president, district workers’ union. Ram Kumar Bhukkal, GM, Roadways, said 33 buses of private schools were pressed into service, while 98 private buses were deployed to ferry passengers. In all, 40 buses have been kept on standby. 

Panipat :
Members of the Akhil Bharatiya Yuva Jat Mahasabha burnt an effigy of All-India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti president Yashpal Malik here.

Members of the mahasabha led by Jitender Sandhu gathered at the toll plaza on the NH-44 and raised slogans against Malik. Sandhu alleged that Malik was disturbing the peace and brotherhood in the state and he wanted to burn Haryana again.

Accusing Malik of not taking care and helping the youths lodged in jails, he appealed the Jat youths not to support him in the name of reservation.

 Sandhu said that Jat youths had decided to burn the effigy of Malik.

Chandigarh/Gurugram :

A split in the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) seems imminent. Amid a clamour for Hisar MP Dushyant Chautala’s expulsion at the party’s working committee meeting in Gurugram on Thursday, party patriarch Om Prakash Chautala reportedly told the leaders that he would take a call on October 25, stressing the report of the disciplinary committee was a must. 

“Anyone who threatens the party will find me standing against him. I am not a father or a grandfather when I adorn this pagri (turban) of party supremo,” he is reported to have assured the leaders.

Both Dushyant and his younger brother Digvijay have been rather “defiant” ever since they were sent a notice and suspended on October 11 for anti-party activities in the wake of the ruckus at the party’s “Samman Rally” at Gohana, which, party leaders allege, was engineered by both the brothers.
Chautala’s furlough from the Tihar Central Jail, where he is serving sentence in the JBT recruitment scam, came to an end on Thursday. He will be out for a day for a medical check-up on October 25. It is then that he is expected to take a decision on the issue.

All eyes are now on Dushyant’s father Ajay Singh, serving imprisonment with his father, who is likely to be out on parole on Friday. It would be interesting to watch as to what would be his political move. Sources said the Chautala-Dushyant meeting, where other family members were present too, ended abruptly with Dushyant making a hasty exit as soon as his uncle Abhay Singh, with whom he has a family feud, arrived there. 

Dushyant, who met Chautala morning at the latter’s 11-Meena Bagh residence in Delhi, wrote to INLD office secretary Nachhatar Singh Malhan the second time, seeking 15 more days to reply to the party notice. He had earlier in a letter dated October 14 sought proof of the charges against him. “Every day, I am mindful and proud to represent the passion, strength and integrity of the INLD. I understand it as my responsibility to make a positive impact in community. On the personal level, let me repeat that I have every intention to remain a part of the INLD family and I am extremely excited about the positive future of the party headed by our Chaudhary Om Prakash Chautala ji (sic),” read Dushyant’s letter.

The party's October 11 notice to Dushyant had accused him of gross indiscipline and hooliganism during the birthday celebrations of the late Chaudhary Devi Lal and of “causing disaffection within the party and conspiring with forces inimical to the INLD". 

Chandigarh :

Even as Haryana Roadways unions extended their strike till Friday, the state government on Thursday decided to rope in private school buses for the convenience of commuters.

Transport Minister Krishan Lal Panwar said school bus operators who wanted to run buses on specified routes could get in touch with the Regional Transport Authorities, which were working on modalities of running of private buses.

He pointed out that school bus operators would have to provide drivers and conductors. He said the state government was ready for talks with striking employees on any issue except for introducing 720 private buses.

Panwar said striking employees would be booked under the ESMA. He added the advertisement to appoint 930 conductors and 500 drivers under the outsourcing policy had been issued.

Karnal: Commuters had to face a tough time on Thursday, particularly on rural routes. They had to wait for hours for buses, though private buses and school buses provided some relief.

 “I have been waiting for a bus for more than an hour. The government should take action against the employees causing problems to the common man,” said Ramesh Kumar of Garhibirbal.

The district administration took the help of 20 drivers with the Haryana Police and pressed 65 school buses into service. Another 72 private buses plied on various routes.

“We have urged school managements to support the administration,” said Nishant Kumar Yadav, Additional Deputy Commissioner. He said private schools would be given Rs30 per km for their support.

Yamunanagar: The police on Thursday registered a case against Hari Narain Sharma, state president of the All-Haryana Roadways Workers’ Union, for participating in the strike.

On the complaint of Ravinder Prakash Pathak, General Manager of the Yamunanagar depot, a case was registered against Sharma under the ESMA. Sharma could not be contacted for comment.

The strike remained peaceful in the district. The roadways authorities plied about 25 buses, both roadways and private, in the afternoon.

Panipat: The General Manager of Panipat depot, SP Parmar, on Thursday suspended 18 employees and served show-cause notice on 192 employees for violating the ban order under the ESMA.

Around 215 employees were on strike on Thursday. The administration arranged 30 private buses, which would be run on local routes.

The district administration provided 53 special police officers to Haryana Roadways.