Chandigarh: Amid the ongoing war of words between allies BJP and JJP, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar Saturday appeared to take a dig at the latter over JJP MLA Ramkaran Kala’s resignation from the post of chairman of the Haryana State Federation of Co-operative Sugar Mills Limited.
At a press conference where he discussed the farmers’ agitation for MSP on sunflower crop and transfer of funds to the accounts of 8,528 sunflower farmers under the Bhavantar Bharpai Yojana, the CM said that confusion is being created among farmers to make it look like the government is not concerned about them, even though what the BJP has done for farmers was never done earlier.
Some people were doing politics on this issue and misleading the farmers while some organisations indulge in pressure politics, he further claimed.
“Ek sajjan to hamare isteefa ka ghoshna bhi kar gaye. Main ise rajniti karna hi kahunga. Main soch raha tha ki sugarcane board ka chairman hone ke naate mere paas hi isteefa aana chahiye. Ya sarkaar mein kisi ko milna chahiye. Par ham mein se kisi ke paas koi isteefa nahi aya hai (There is someone who even went to the extent of announcing his resignation. I will call this an act of playing politics. I assumed that the resignation will come to me or to anyone else in the government. But none of us have received it),” said Khattar, without naming Kala.
On Tuesday, JJP MLA Ramkaran Kala had told the media that he had tendered his resignation in protest against the lathi-charge on farmers protesting against the government not procuring sunflower crop at MSP.
Tensions between the two allies have intensified of late, especially after Biplab Kumar Deb, BJP’s in-charge of Haryana affairs, campaigned Sunday for former Union minister Chaudhary Birender Singh’s wife Prem Lata in Uchana. Prem Lata, a former MLA, had lost the Uchana seat to Deputy CM and JJP chief Dushyant Chautala in 2019.
To a query on whether the government would have accepted the resignation had it reached him, Khattar said he would have taken a call on it only after he had received the papers.
“Certain people try to create confusion among others by their acts. At times, it is aimed at putting undue pressure on the government. As far as the government’s stand is concerned, it was clear that we are with the farmers. The way we have been thinking about the welfare of farmers, none has ever thought in the past,” Khattar added.
The CM claimed that the condition of farmers was “pitiable” nine years ago. “PM Narendra Modi made plans for increasing their income. The government had a plan to improve the marketing too for the benefit of farmers. But the three central agriculture laws had to be withdrawn. The PM admitted that perhaps we could not convey the benefits of the bills to farmers. In the future, we hope to sit with farmer organisations and come up with a mechanism for the better marketing of agricultural crops.”
‘Alliance for public good, will continue’
When mediapersons asked Khattar about the future of his party’s alliance with JJP, he said the alliance was made for the public good and it will continue. On queries about the reports of rifts in the BJP-JJP alliance, he said all these were merely rumours.
When Khattar’s attention was drawn to Deb’s meetings with Independent MLAs and Haryana Lokhit Party MLA Gopal Kanda, Khattar said that the party organisation keeps doing its own exercise while the government does its own work.
Meanwhile, Shahbad MLA Kala told ThePrint that after Khattar’s press conference, he was firm on his resignation.
“I handed over my resignation to Deputy CM Dushyant Chautala as it was because of him that I was given this post. Now, it’s the weekend. Let Monday come and I will hand over my resignation to the CM,” Kala said over the phone.
(Edited by Tony Rai)