Chandigarh: It is a season of political rallies in Haryana.After national BJP president Amit Shah organised a "yuva hunkar rally" in Jind and rode pillion on a motorcycle recently, former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda of the Congress is planning to take out a rath yatra later this month and state Congress chief Ashok Tanwar has lined up a "cycle yatra".
At Mr Shah's rally, where many BJP leaders, including him, arrived on motorcycles, the BJP chief showered lavish praise on the policies of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre and the M. L. Khattar government in Haryana.
The event, which virtually marked the launch of BJP's election campaign for the Assembly elections next year, survived a scare when agitated Jats threatened to disrupt to rally but later withdrew the call after the state government withdrew 70 FIRs, naming 822 Jat protesters, filed following the 2016 quota agitation.
In February 2016, Jat agitators demanding quota hit the streets, destroying property, looting and burning down buildings. A total of 31 people were killed and nearly 150 injured. The PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry had pegged the loss to property at Rs 34,000 crore.
Meanwhile, Mr Hooda is eyeing the revival of Congress fortunes with his "jankranti yatra" on February 25 in Hodal. It will be preceded by a meeting of state Congress leaders.
The rally was announced soon after the CBI chargesheeted him in a land deal dating to his term as chief minister. Mr Hooda said that he will not succumb to "politics of vengeance and threats" and hold the yatra for "harmony, development and political change".
Citing the Congress by-poll victories in Rajasthan and its close fight with the BJP in Gujarat, he said, "Winds of change have already started blowing in the country." Similarly, Mr Tanwar's cycle yatra will touch every Assembly constituency. Congress president Rahul Gandhi has also been invited to hold a rally in the state.
He said, "The Gujarat model is a total failure. People want to overthrow the BJP regime at the Centre and bring back the Congress. Congress will capture power in 2019."
Earlier, during Parliament's Winter Session, Indian National Lok Dal's Hisar MP Dushyant Chautala drove on a tractor to the premises to boost image as a pro-farmer leader.
The MP wanted to protest against tweaking of rules of the Motor Vehicles Act which will declare tractors as mere vehicles and not agricultural vehicles, withdrawing some sops. It will make them costly and liable to pay toll tax when transporting goods.
