Khattar sure of BJP’s first-ever win in Jind

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, January 5

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Saturday claimed that the BJP would win the Jind byelection, marking its first-ever victory there. “There is no challenge to the BJP from the Opposition in Jind and we will get an overwhelming response there. The people of five cities gave us a good response in the municipal corporation elections held recently and all of our five mayoral candidates won. The BJP will definitely win the Jind byelection and it will be our first-ever victory in Jind,” said Khattar in reply to a question.

He said that the two-member election observers’ committee of the party would scrutinise the names of probables in a couple of days and after consultation with party national president Amit Shah, the name of the candidate would be announced.

The Chief Minister was in the city to inaugurate and lay the foundation stones of various projects to cost around Rs 150 crore. He inaugurated the long-awaited western bypass constructed at a cost of around Rs 50 crore to ease traffic in the city. Besides, he laid the foundation stones of eight projects, including a community centre at Indri, to be built at a cost of Rs 3.19 crore, three entry gates named after Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya at Tau Devi Lal Chowk, Mahabharata-time warrior Karan near Namastey Chowk and Shrimad Bhagwad Gita near Baldi Chowk (to cost around Rs 2.10 crore), the SDM office in Indri to be built at a cost of Rs 11.61 crore and various roads. Later in the evening, the Chief Minister also launched a poster and the trailer of film “SP Chauhan — a struggling man”.

Earlier, while addressing a gathering on the banks of the Western Yamuna Canal, Khattar exhorted people to get ready to support the party in Jind on January 28. He said that it was the duty of all party workers, leaders and people having faith in good governance to ensure the victory of the BJP in the Jind byelection.

On the issue of slow pace of the work on the Karnal-Indri state highway, the Chief Minister said that the contractor had been asked to complete the project at the earliest or face action.

Khattar refuted the allegation levelled by the Congress that the action against former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was ‘political vendetta’. “The law is taking its own course,” he added.

The Chief Minister disapproved of the tweets by Sports Minister Anil Vij and teenager shooting sensation Manu Bhaker and said that the cash reward would be given according to the rules. “One should not have any objection to the policy,” he added.

Venugopal is state Cong incharge for Jind bypoll

New Delhi: After the municipal election setback in Haryana, the Congress is gearing up for the January 28 Jind byelection. Congress President Rahul Gandhi has named party leader KC Venugopal in charge of Haryana at least until the Jind byelection. It is not clear if Venugopal will continue to hold the charge of the state even later, but he has been tasked by Gandhi to oversee the entire Congress strategy for the Jind poll on January 28. Venugopal’s appointment comes in the wake of the absence of AICC general secretary in charge of Haryana for seven months now. Venugopal has called the first meeting of top Haryana Congress leaders in the capital tomorrow to discuss potential candidates for the election. TNS

No nomination received on third day also

Chandigarh: No nomination paper was received by the returning officer for the Jind bypoll for the third consecutive day today. The last date of filing nomination papers for the bypoll is January 10. Meanwhile, returning officer Virender Sehrawat said of the 158 polling booths in the Jind Assembly segment, 26 had been identified as hyper-sensitive and 12 sensitive.