CHANDIGARH, December 20: ‘Five-time’ Haryana Chief Minister, Om Prakash Chautala was known more for the controversies than the record of being the Chief Minister of the state, “five times”.
Effectively, his only full tenure was between July 1999 and March 2005, for five years and eight months. He was pragmatic and meticulous while making decisions when it came to the welfare of Haryana.
One of the quite lesser known “administrative decisions” Chautala “did not take” was “not to provide free electricity” to farmers in Haryana even after having promised it, at the advice of the then Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, who had realised the massive economic and financial costs of such populist decisions.
Chautala was weighed down by the heavy weight of expectation of the legacy he inherited from his father, Devi Lal.
Lal was, at one time, the most popular leader of not only Haryana but the entire Jat belt including the parts of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. He was also the victim of Machiavellian politics, taking place in the corridors of power during the VP Singh regime.
Chautala is mostly identified with the ‘Mayhem of Mahem’. After Devi Lal became the Deputy Prime Minister, he passed on the Chief Ministerial baton to Chautala. Lal after getting elected to the parliament and becoming the Deputy Prime Minister resigned from the Meham assembly constituency.
Chautala decided to fight from his father’s constituency. However, the family loyalist, Anand Singh Dangi, who was a close aide of Devi Lal and was also known as his “fifth” son revolted and decided to contest independently. The by-election turned into ‘mayhem’ and was countermanded, not once, but twice.
While the violence did take place on two occasions the by-elections were held and countermanded, under the nose of Chautala who had succeeded his father Devi Lal as the Chief Minister, it was used as an alibi by VP Singh to checkmate Devi Lal, whom he considered a threat.
Chautala had to resign within four months of becoming the Chief Minister. He again became the Chief Minister on July 12 and had to resign again on July 17. The third time he became the Chief Minister on March 22, 1991, and had to resign again within 14 days on April 6, 1991.
He returned to power in July 1999, when helped by Parkash Singh Badal and Madan Lal Khurana he stitched an alliance with the BJP. The BJP ditched Bansi Lal midway to support Chautala. He called for snap polls in March 2000. During these elections, the BJP demanded 45 seats, which was not justified though, as the party did not have any base beyond a few urban pockets.
Chautala conceded the BJP’s demand but fielded “independent” candidates from most of the seats it had given to the alliance partner. Several of his “independent” candidates “rejoined” INLD after winning.
Chautala had reluctantly allied with the BJP as he was always apprehensive of its “expansionist” designs, which he feared would come at the cost of a regional party like INLD. And he was prophetic in his apprehensions. Today, the INLD is as good as completely wiped out, with just two assembly seats, while the BJP formed the government for a third consecutive term, this time with 47 legislators.
Chautala was a sagacious and pragmatic politician. He was an effective administrator “who knew” how to tame the bureaucracy. One of the biggest favours he did to Haryana was to back out from his poll promise of providing free electricity to the farmers.
In the neighbouring Punjab, Parkash Singh Badal had promised and provided free electricity to farmers. Chautala took the queue from his ‘mentor’ Badal, with whom he had close family ties. However, after he became the Chief Minister, he was advised and cautioned by Badal not to go ahead with his promise of free electricity. He took the advice seriously and saved the state, lest it would have gone Punjab way.
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