How Khattar messed up

CHANDIGARH: Haryana lawmakers decided to restrain their party colleagues from provoking Jat community members during an all-party meeting on Friday over how to contain the agitation that killed three people.

The decision to convene the all-party meeting was taken in the emergency Cabinet meeting held by Khattar on Thursday evening.

Among the core issues discussed at the meeting were the remarks by BJP MP from Kurukshetra Raj Kumar Saini that were ‘withdrawn’ by the chief minister.

Saini had recently made comments criticising the community and their demands.

Besides Khattar and BJP state chief Subhash Barala, Haryana Congress president Ashok Tanwar, former Congress chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and CLP leader Kiran Chaudhry, INLD state president Ashok Arora and former minister Jaswinder Sandhu, the BSP MLA from Ballabhgarh, Tek Chand Sharma, also attended the meeting.

Among other BJP leaders was also education minister Ram Bilas Sharma, besides independent MLA Jai Parkash.

“Now since we have sought suggestions from leaders of all political parties as well as Jat leaders and agreed to frame the special backward classes bill with consent of all the people concerned, we would discuss the same in the upcoming budget session. I, thus, have no doubt that the agitation will end now,’’ the CM said.

When asked what would be the state government’s steps if the stir would still be on, Khattar held that in any case, the law and order was his top priority.

He avoided commenting on questions pertaining to any action against leaders who had been giving provocative remarks against different communities.

He also skipped questions that whether there was a failure of intelligence agencies because of which the stir continued to intensify pan Haryana for six days.