By Jaideep Sarin, IANS,
Chandigarh : In love, people are known to take questionable decisions. Chander Mohan, who held the post of deputy chief minister in Haryana till Sunday, fell in love and got himself a new wife, a new name and a new religion too. In the process, he lost his job.
No sooner did Mohan, re-christened as Chand Mohammed in his newly acquired religion, Islam, Sunday formally announce his marriage to Anuradha Bali (re-named Fizaa after changing her religion too), Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda moved in quickly to drop his second-in-command from the post of deputy chief minister.
The reason extended by Haryana’s official spokesman for dropping Mohan was that he remained “absent” from office and “neglected” his work.
That the Hooda government, realized that Mohan was “missing” for over 45 days and sacked him only after his public appearance and disclosure of his second marriage speaks volumes about the official excuse to drop him.
The ruling Congress in Haryana has been left embarrassed by the episode.
Mohan failed to attend official meetings and even skipped cabinet meetings during this period. He also did not bother to inform either Hooda or anyone else.
Gone with his job were the perks extended to him by Hooda, including his official Mercedes and high-profile security.
“I don’t understand what he is doing. Of course, it is embarrassing for us all,” a senior cabinet colleague of Mohan told IANS, refusing to elaborate further.
Mohan’s low-profile image was, of course, changed Sunday when he and his new bride appeared on a television news channel saying that they had indeed got married.
His new wife, lawyer Anuradha Bali has been an assistant advocate general in Haryana and Punjab both. She was sacked from her job by the Haryana government only last week after it became known in political circles that she was “missing” along with Mohan.
“She was on this post in Haryana because of her powerful connections,” an additional advocate general in Haryana told IANS requesting anonymity.
Mohan is already married to Seema Bishnoi and had three children from her. One of his sons died earlier this year following prolonged illness.
Attempts to reach Seema Bishnoi at Bhajan Lal’s sprawling bungalow in Panchkula, 10 km from here, failed as she was not at home.
Mohan, a four-time Congress legislator from Kalka assembly seat in Haryana, adjoining Chandigarh, was always a man living in the shadow of his father Bhajan Lal’s political name.
Even though he had never been a minister earlier, Mohan was elevated to the status of deputy chief minister by the Congress leadership largely to assuage the feelings of a sulking Lal who was not made the chief minister even after leading the party to a thumping majority in the 2005 state assembly polls.
Hooda, who had not even contested the election, was made the chief minister by the Congress high command.
Lal and his younger son, Congress dissident MP (from Bhiwani Lok Sabha seat in Haryana) Kuldip Bishnoi, were sidelined within the Congress, forcing them to float a new political outfit, Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC), December last year.