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HSGMC row: SAD tries ‘backdoor’ diplomacy to ‘rein in’ Hooda

Senior SAD leaders say Congress leaders in Delhi will be contacted to “rein in” Hooda.

sad Police try to control supporters of the HSGMC at a protest in Kurukshetra on Wednesday. (Source: PTI)

Even as violence broke out in Kurukshetra over the HSGMC issue, SAD is looking at backdoor diplomacy as a solution to the impasse between Punjab and Haryana. Senior SAD leaders say Congress leaders in Delhi will be contacted to “rein in” Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda so that the law and order situation does not worsen.

Aides of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal — who is camping in Delhi for the past two days — admitted that all other options of “restraining” Haryana were closed till the Assembly polls. “There are a only a few constitutional possibilities available. But for that we will have to wait for the Assembly polls and hope that Congress does not come to power,” said Harcharan Singh Bains, the chief minister’s adviser on national and strategic affairs.

The Centre is also said to have communicated its inability to push new Haryana Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki —- an NDA appointee —- any further as the matter had “already gone out of his hands” by the time he took over. “Legally it is not possible for the governor to undo the act as by the time he took over it had been notified. The only thing the governor can now do is to suggest imposition of President’s rule, which will politically suit Hooda,” confided a SAD leader.

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After the HSGMC supporters laid siege at the gurdwara in Kurukshetra, Badal had rushed to Delhi on Monday and met Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. Rajya Sabha MP Naresh Gujral had spoken to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh that morning, who asked him to meet Jaitley as there were “legal” implications to the issue.

Senior SAD leaders who rushed to Delhi this evening said that the violence by Kurukshetra HSGMC supporters was a “clear sabotage” of the peace process that had been initiated following the joint meeting of SAD and SGPC on one side and the HSGMC leaders on the other in Jagadhri on Monday.

Festive offer

“It is a political move. Just when the stands of the two parties were softening and a step had been taken towards an amicable solution, the move of the Haryana SGPC members to take over the gurdwara in Kaithal and announcing the victory in Kurukshetra today is a move to halt the peace initiative,” said SAD general secretary and education minister Dr Daljit Singh Cheema.

Cheema was among the SAD leaders who had attended the Jagadhri meeting, where it was decided that a five-member committee of intellectuals would be constituted to resolve the issue. Haryana SGPC leaders Didar Singh Nalwi and Jagdish Singh Jhinda, who had not attended the meeting, however said they had not agreed to it.

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Cheema added that the Kurukshetra violence is likely to trigger a “chain reaction”. “How can you stop Sikhs from Punjab from going into Haryana and trying to recover the gurdwaras the HSGPC has wrested from SGPC?” he said.

Bains added that Haryana’s move smacked of desperation. “There are only a few days left before the model code of conduct is enforced in Haryana. Before that the HSGMC leaders want to create enough impact to help them in the polls.

First uploaded on: 07-08-2014 at 12:06 IST
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