NEW DELHI: Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal said that his son Om Prakash Chautala who is also the chief minister of Haryana, will contest only from Meham assembly constituency in the state.
Elections to Meham seat were countermanded following poll violence on February 27 and 28.
In an informal chat with journalists, Devi Lal criticized those who had been demanding Chautala’s resignation and said this right only vested with the members of the legislative assembly.
Referring to a memorandum submitted to the president and prime minister regarding the Meham byelections, Devi Lal said none of the 12 signatories to the memorandum except the rebel Janata Dal candidate Anand Singh Dangi belonged to the constituency.
What more could the state government do than instituting a judicial inquiry by a high court judge, he added.
Devi Lal was sore with five top newspaper barons and industrialists, who, he said, had unleashed a campaign of vilification against him through their newspapers. He stressed that he had nothing against any journalist.
The deputy prime minister said the newspapers should give news and refrain from carrying views while reporting events. He supported the view that newspapers should be delinked from monopoly houses.
Replying to a query, he said he was not aware of any decision taken by the Janata Dal to havea ‘one man one post formula.”
Devi Lal said it was the first time that 319 MPs with rural backgrounds had been elected to the Lok Sabha. “I will not do anything which changes this Position and brings down the number of elected representatives with rural background,” he said.
He lauded the general budget and said for the first time farmer’s interests had been taken into account and 49 percent of the total budget allocation had been earmarked for rural development.
Article extracted from this publication >> March 30, 1990
