If embattled Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday ruled out his resignation after meeting Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah, the party also announced that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who has recently been criticised for the deaths of over 70 children in a hospital in his Lok Sabha constituency, and his deputies Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma, will not contest any assembly by-polls but enter the UP legislature's upper house.
Adityanath is a Lok Sabha member from Gorakhpur, while Deputy Chief Minister Maurya is a Lok Sabha member from Phoolpur. With the two slated to vacate their seats, by-polls would need to be held on the two seats. Until a month back, speculation was rife that Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati might contest the Phoolpur Lok Sabha by-poll as the common candidate of a joint Opposition.
A by-poll is also due on the Ajmer Lok Sabha seat in Rajasthan, after sitting MP Sanwar Lal Jat passed away on August 9. Congress Rajasthan state unit president Sachin Pilot had represented the seat in 2009, but lost in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Several of the opposition parties are of the view that the Opposition should come together to not just field common candidates on these three seats, but Opposition leaders should also jointly campaign.
In the morning, Khattar met Shah. After the meeting, Khattar said there will not be any change in the leadership in Haryana. He said his government had acted with "restraint" as its first target was to ensure that the self-styled godman appeared before the court in Panchkula in Haryana.
Justifying his government's action, Khattar said had something happened before the controversial sect head appeared before the special CBI court on August 25, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh might have used that as an "excuse" for not turning up in the court. "We acted with restraint. We achieved our aim," he said. Asked about the demand for his resignation, he shot back, "Anybody can say anything... We are satisfied with our work. Whatever we did was right. There will be no change."
To a question on his party courting the Dera head for political support, Khattar said political parties sought everyone's cooperation. "But there is never a condition for such support that somebody breaks the law. Nobody is above the law," he said, claiming that his government had no deal with the Dera chief, as was being alleged. He also rejected reports of "VIP treatment" given to the Dera head after he was convicted, saying he was temporarily put up in a guest house as arrangements were being made in the jail. Convicted of raping two of his women followers, the Dera chief was on Monday sentenced to 20 years in jail.
Khattar and his government's handling of the violence in Panchkula that left 38 dead, triggered after Dera Sacha Sauda chief was convicted for rape by a CBI court, has been criticised not just by Opposition parties but also the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
The BJP on Wednesday said UP Chief Minister Adityanath, and his two deputies, Maurya and Dinesh Sharma, will contest Legislative Council by-elections. A BJP statement said its central election committee had also picked Swatantra Dev Singh and Mohsin Raza, both ministers in the state government, as party candidates for the elections. Ministers, if not members of Parliament or legislatures, need to be elected within six months of being sworn in. Six months for the five expire on September 18.