Devi Lal (middle).

BHIWANI, May 11: The Octogenarian Samajwadi Janata Party (SJP) leader, Devi Lal, has promised free water and power to the peasantry of Haryana if returned to power while his son, Om Prakash Chautala, raised a war cry against the one-year-old HVP-BJP government and sought the cooperation of the people to topple it.

The father-son duo were addressing a well attended dhikkar rally organised by the SJP, on Sunday, to condemn the ``misrule''of the HVP-BJP government in Haryana.

Devi Lal called upon the people of Haryana to install a government of their choice. He alleged that the Bansi Lal government had failed on all fronts during the last one year. His son, Chautala, adopting a more aggressive posture asked the people of Haryana to be ready for a fight, to root out the present government. The fight, he said, would be led by the Bhisham pitamaha (Devi Lal) of Haryana politics Chautala called upon the people to be ready to go to jail in the fight to topple the state government. The ageing tau Devi Lal, striking an emotional chord with the gathering, said he was like a tree on the river bank which could be swept away any day but that he wanted to see a popular government installed before his final journey. He said while the Punjab government was providing free water and power to the farmers in the state, the Haryana government had failed to provide adequate drinking water and power in the last one year.

Chautala also decried Bansi Lal's suggestion for referendum on the issue of transfer of Chandigarh and said his party supported the Shah Commission's recommendations.

Successive speakers at the rally, including former Home Minister, Sampat Singh, the state SJP president, Dhirpal Singh, the SJP women's cell president Kailasho Saini, lambasted the Bansi Lal government for failing to keep its election promises of 24-hour power supply, employment to youths and completion of the Syl canal. They singled out the prohibition policy for concerted attack saying that it had failed and alleged that it had encouraged youths to take to smuggling.

Chautala alleged that people from all section of society, including farmers, labourers, businessmen, were disgruntled with the present government. He also invited the chief minister for an open debate on the issue of privatisation to convince him about its benefits. According to Chautala, power privatisation would mean a 50 per cent cut in power subsidy to farmers and retrenchment of 53,000 employees of the Haryana State Electricity Board (HSEB).

The SJP leader also alleged that only a select few who were close to the power-that-be have reaped benefits. Sampat Singh warned that the government policies were encouraging terrorism in the state and that a liquor mafia was developing in state.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.