By IANS,
Jind (Haryana) : The 96th birth anniversary of former deputy prime minister Devi Lal provided the right opportunity for the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) to kick off its poll campaign in Haryana with a big rally in this town in the state’s Jat heartland Friday.
The INLD, which is the main opposition party in the state, called upon people to overthrow the Congress government in the state led by chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala, addressing the rally at the HUDA ground here, 200 km from Chandigarh, said there was clear wave for change in Haryana and people would elect INLD government in next month’s assembly polls.
Elections to the 90-member Haryana assembly are scheduled for Oct 13.
However, unlike its past rallies, the INLD could only get Punjab Chief Minister and senior Akali Dal leader Parkash Singh Badal for its show of strength here. Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar did not turn up.
The Akali Dal, which runs an alliance government with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in neighbouring Punjab, has chosen to support the INLD in the Haryana assembly poll instead of the BJP.
Chautala accused the Congress party of “looting and plundering” the state and adopting policies of petty selfish interests. He scoffed at the “Haryana No. 1 state” slogan of the Congress government, saying that the state was lagging behind in several areas.
INLD leaders claimed that the attendance at the rally exceeded their all expectations.
“Thousands of people were stuck in massive traffic jams and still the rally ground was over-flowing,” INLD leader Ajay Singh Chautala said.
Badal called upon people to elect Chautala as the chief minister so that Haryana could progress further.