HJC KA KAYA HOGA RE KALIA ?

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Bhajan Lal drums up support for rally


Hisar, February 28
Former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal yesterday exhorted Haryana Janhit Congress (BL) workers to gather in Chandigarh on March 5 to gherao the state assembly building there in protest against admission of its five legislators in the Congress.

Addressing a meeting of supporters at his private residence here, he said all five legislators had won on his party ticket and their admission in the Congress was unconstitutional and illegal.

He slammed Haryana Vidhan Sabha Speaker HS Chatha for adopting delaying tactics on the notices given by his and other political parties against the admission of these MLAs to the Congress.

The former Chief Minister said the Speaker had shown unseemly haste in granting admission to these legislators in the Congress. However, he was not inclined to act on the notices given by various parties against his action.

He said these legislators had committed an unconstitutional act and the Speaker had protected the interests of the Congress thereby abdicating his constitutional responsibilities.

Bhajan Lal said none of these legislators could have been elected without the backing of his party. “If they are so sure of their victory they should prove their credentials by resigning from their seats and seek re-election. I am certain that all of them will lose,” he added.

Earlier this week, Bhajan Lal and son Kuldeep Bishnoi, MLA, had toured Adampur and other assembly segments drumming up support for the Chandigarh protest.

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UT not to allow HJC dharnas


Chandigarh, March 7
Even as Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) supremo Kuldeep Bishnoi and his workers are nursing wounds from the “tyranny” unleashed by the police against them on March 5, the Chandigarh Administration has decided to add salt to their wounds.

Sources said the administration today decided to cancel the permission to the HJC to hold dharnas at the rally ground. The reason: The HJC violated the terms of agreement for holding a peaceful protest and indulged in rioting. The status of the appointment given by Punjab Governor Shivraj Patil to the HJC, which had prepared a representation against the “involvement” of the Haryana police on the day their workers were cane-charged, too, is now unclear.

The HJC had sought permission from the Chandigarh Administration to organise dharnas at the rally ground in Sector 25 during the on-going Budget session of the Haryana Assembly to protest against the “misdeeds” of the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government and press for the disqualification of five MLAs who had, post-election, joined the Congress.

Speaking to The Tribune, Bishnoi said in withdrawing the permission, the administration had succumbed to political pressure. “They have sent nothing in writing so far though they sent back our workers who had gone to put up tents for tomorrow’s dharna in Sector 25. I will go to the protest site tomorrow morning as per schedule since I have permission till March 12 in writing. Let’s see what happens. The cancellation is unjustified because Chandigarh is the capital of Haryana and we do have the right to voice our protest in the city,” he said.

Bishnoi maintained that following their request, the Punjab Governor had given an appointment for tomorrow morning. “However, today, I got a call saying the Governor may not be available at the appointed time,” he said.

With the registration of cases against unnamed worked of the HJC, the party is apprehensive about the police arresting all its senior leaders. “In the light of this development, we will have to change our strategy. Unlike our decision to have prominent leaders to mark the beginning of the dharna and follow it up with district-wise representation, only a few faces will come forward on day one. If the police arrests them, we will take our protest to various districts of Haryana,” HJC spokesman Rann Singh Mann said.

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Unfazed, Bishnoi holds protest


Chandigarh, March 8
Unfazed by brutality unleashed on his workers by the police during a rally on Friday, HJC supremo Kuldeep Bishnoi returned to the rally grounds of Sector 25 here today to start a relay fast. Protesting against police highhandedness, Bishnoi said it was pre-planned and the governments at the Centre and in Haryana were to blame.

Amid tight security, the protest passed off peacefully and Bishnoi left for New Delhi in the evening. He, along with four other party leaders, will hold a silent protest against the incidents in Chandigarh at Parliament House tomorrow. In Chandigarh, party workers will continue to sit on strike till the Vidhan Sabha session ends on March 16. Besides Bishnoi, former minister Dharampal Malik, former MLA Rann Singh Mann and Shashi Sharma, who contested the assembly elections unsuccessfully from Panchkula, went on fast today.

A number of HJC workers, including Bishnoi, were injured in a lathicharge on Friday as they protested against the “merger” of four Independent MLAs with the Congress. His fractured in a plaster, Bishnoi reached Sector 25 at 9.30 am today and declared his partymen would continue to protest against state “repression”.

He would demand Rs 5 crore as compensation from the administration for damage to vehicles and the injuries inflicted on his party workers, he said.

On the future strategy, Bishnoi said they would file an application in court seeking a judicial inquiry. He said the police refused to register the complaints of the injured HJC workers. Instead, they slapped criminal cases against them.

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The legality of HJC-Congress merger in Haryana


Haryana Assembly Speaker Harmohinder Singh Chatha has issued notices to five erstwhile MLAs of the Haryana Janhit Congress on a petition by its president Kuldeep Bishnoi questioning the alleged “merger” of his ex-partymen into the Congress in November 2009. Mr Bishnoi has sought their disqualification under the Anti-Defection Law. The INLD has also moved a similar petition. As for the legality of the merger, there is no judicial pronouncement till date.

Every instance of merger hitherto has been adjudicated by the Speaker or Presiding Officer of the House on facts and circumstances of each case. Some cases also went to the higher judiciary for a review of the Presiding Officer’s decision.

Though Paragraph Three of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, also referred to as the one-third split rule, exploited many a time by political parties in many states has been done away with following the enactment of Constitution (Ninety-first Amendment) Act, 2004, the merger provision remains on the statute book contrary to the recommendations of the Law Commission (1999) and the Constitution Review Commission (2002). Both commissions wanted provisions relating to splits and mergers deleted. The Rajasthan High Court is seized of the issue regarding the merger of six BSP MLAs into the Congress in April, 2009.

The Supreme Court in Ravi S. Naik case (1994), while dealing with the concept of split, held that three conditions ought to be satisfied for purposes of a split: split in the original political party, the faction is represented by a group of MLAs in the House and finally such a group constituted 1/3rd of the members of the legislature party. Thus, even if there is cent per cent merger of the legislature party without a split in the original political party, there can be no valid split.

Applying the same principle and analogy for the “merger” under the Anti-Defection law, there ought to be merger of the original political party even if the entire legislature party agrees to the merger. The merger of original political party can’t be admitted by a mere claim of two-third members of its legislative party.

The language employed in Paragraph Four of the Tenth Schedule is itself ambiguous as initially it talks of merger of the original political party with another party, but later it assumes the will of two-thirds members of the legislative party sufficient for deciding the merger of the whole political party. Such ambiguity needs to be resurrected.

In 2004, the then Haryana Assembly Speaker, Satbir Singh Kadian refused to approve merger of two single party legislative groups into the Congress on the ground that as there was no split in their original parties (the NCP and the RPI) at the national level, the split at the state level can’t be accepted though they were the sole representatives of their original parties in the House and as such they constitute cent per cent of the strength of their original political party. The Supreme Court upheld this decision in December 2006.

In the HJC case, the five MLAs, out of the six elected, chose to follow a path akin to “en bloc defection” by migrating to the Congress in phases of four and one within a couple of days without the consent of their legislative group leader, Kuldip Bishnoi. If the Speaker upheld this floor crossing, every legislative party leader and the future of a political party as a distinct entity in the House would remain at the mercy of its two-third legislators.

Worse, though the remaining members of a legislative group, who have opted against any merger by their two-thirds colleagues, function as a separate group, they would no longer be considered as belonging to the very party on which they were elected as that party is presumed to have been merged with another party by their ex-fellow mates. Consequently, the former party can no longer exist at least under its previous original name. This view was given by former Attorney General K. Parasaran in K.P. Unnikrishnan case (1987).

Though the HJC is a recognised state party after the May 2009 general election on the basis of its vote percentage, following the alleged merger by two-third members of the original legislative group, it will lose its original name at least in the Assembly as per the Tenth Schedule.

It is a wake up call for all parties to call for the deletion of the provision in the Anti-Defection Law which facilitates unhealthy mergers. Clearly, any recognised party, national or state, can become a victim of such tactics by political adversaries.

The writer is Advocate, Punjab and Haryana High Court

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HJC to felicitate activists hurt during protest


Fatehabad, March 22
Haryana Janhit Congress supremo Kuldeep Bishnoi today alleged that the special task force (STF), whose cops were caught extorting money from businessmen, had been working under the directions of the state government.

Talking to mediapersons here today, Bishnoi demanded that the matter should be properly investigated.

He said a state-level function of the party would be held in Kurukshetra on May 1, where the workers injured during the police lathicharge at the time of the party’s demonstration in Chandigarh, would be felicitated.

The HJC leader said the party would organise a “padyatra” against the five MLAs, who defected to the Congress after winning their assembly seats on his party ticket.

He said the party would expose these legislators before their electorates for “switching over sides for money”.

The “padyatra” would begin from Narnaul on April 13.

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http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20100421/haryana.htm


Defections: HJC to move High Court


Chandigarh, April 20
Ruing the “deliberate delay” in deciding the fate of five HJC-turned-Congress MLAs, HJC chief Kuldeep Bishnoi and his lawyer Satya Pal Jain today said they had decided to move the High Court.

Bishnoi was in city for a file inspection of the case.He has filed petitions before Vidhan Sabha Speaker Harmohinder Singh Chatha against “his MLAs” for defecting from the party without following proper procedure and has sought their disqualification.

“We will move the High Court for directions to the Speaker to inform us of the proceedings in the case,” Jain told mediapersons after the file inspection.

Jain said Bishnoi filed his petitions on December 9 last. “The Speaker sent the first notice to the MLAs on December 14 which came back twice before the MLAs accepted them. Meanwhile, the INLD also filed petitions against the MLAs.

However, the Speaker’s office kept extending the time given to the MLAs to file their replies. The petitioner was, at no point, informed of the developments and the proceedings went on without him.

After going through the file, we feel that delaying tactics are being adopted . We have no option but to move the court,” Jain maintained. Bishnoi and Jain said there had been instances when cases of disqualification were decided in days . “It’s been over four months and nothing seems to be moving so far. If the Congress is sure that it hasn’t done anything unconstitutional, why the delay in the proceedings,” asked Bishnoi.



State, Kanda get notice of motion


Chandigarh, April 20
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today issued notice of motion to state of Haryana, Minister of state for Home Gopal Kanda and other respondents on a petition filed by three Sirsa-based INLD leaders.

They were seeking directions for registration of a criminal case against Kanda, his brother Gobind Kanda and other police personnel for alleged murderous assault on them and attempt to kidnap one of the petitioners, Pardeep Godara, on April 3. The petitioners, Mahabir Bagri, Pardeep Godara and Yogesh Sharma, had alleged Sirsa residents had given a call for bandh to protest against the erratic power and water supply on April 3, when Haryana Chief Minister was scheduled to visit the area.

Gopal Kanda passing by on his official vehicle suddenly stopped and assaulted three persons. Kanda also directed the police accompanying him to fire on them and pick up Pardeep Godara. As people reached the spot, the kidnapping was foiled.

Later, a criminal case of assault and other offences under the provisions of the IPC and also under the prevention of insult to the national honour was registered against INLD leaders and others for allegedly causing damage to the National Flag on Kanda’s vehicle.

Seeking directions for registration of case of attack on them, the petitioners also sought directions for independent investigation in case registered against them. The case will now come up on May 7.

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HJC in trouble from its own ranks


Chandigarh, April 29
The Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC), the youngest political party in the state, has been facing trouble, not from outsiders but from its own men. First, five of its six MLAs deserted the HJC almost immediately after the Assembly elections and joined the Congress, leaving lone MLA Kuldeep Sharma, who is also the party founder and president.

When the Congress failed to muster a majority of its own in the Assembly elections, the HJC with six MLAs suddenly found itself at the centrestage of Haryana politics. The Congress was short of majority by six MLAs. Though Bhupinder Singh Hooda again became the Chief Minister with the support of seven Independents, the Congress knew that a government formed with the help of Independents could not be considered stable.

Hooda passed the confidence test in the Assembly comfortably when the HJC members absented themselves from the House after they were administered the oath.

Bishnoi had taken away his MLAs to a safe place so that he could bargain with the Congress hard. Before Hooda was sworn in for the second term, he had convinced the high command that there was no need to accept any condition of Bishnoi for supporting the Congress government in the state. Even after Hooda successfully faced the trust motion in the House, Bishnoi again tried to bargain with the high command. It is no secret that Bishnoi’s father, Bhajan Lal, former Chief Minister of Haryana, still has many friends and sympathisers in the AICC, who would love to see the old man and his MLA son back in the party. These friends also wanted Hooda’s bête noire to come back to the Congress fold.

However, Hooda convinced the high command that Bishnoi should be asked to merge his party with the Congress “unconditionally” so that he could not hold the ruling party to ransom later on. Bishnoi was not agreeable to this. But he was finding it difficult to curb the ambitions of his MLAs, who wanted to join hands at the earliest so that they too could enjoy the fruits of power. This ambition made Hooda’s job easier. The HJC MLAs deserted their leader and “merged” their party with the Congress.

Just before the Ellenabad Assembly byelection in January, a main HJC leader, Rakesh Kamboj, who had sacrificed his Assembly membership from Indri to form the HJC in 2008, quit the party to join the INLD.

Now the HJC leadership indirectly admitted that all was not well within its ranks when it issued show-cause notices to 52 senior party leaders asking them to explain why action should not be taken against them for not participating in the party’s programmes and activities.

Among those whom the notices have been issued are former Minister Jai Prakash Gupta, Jitender Singh Khurdban, Punit Masta, Paramjit Gulati, Pradip Chauhan, Sucha Singh Baknaur, K.L. Pahwa, Minakshi Sehgal, Rupesh Kaushik, Ashok Malik, Sher Singh Sadhaura and Darshan Lal Bajigar.