Chandigarh: Two-time Haryana chief minister Bhajan Lal, who rebelled against the Congress, was on Tuesday disqualified from the state Assembly under the anti-defection law and his Adampur seat declared vacant.
The order of Speaker Raghubir Singh Kadian came on a petition filed against Lal seeking that he be disqualified as a Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) since he had voluntarily given up the membership of the Congress on whose ticket he was elected and had formed a new party along with his son and Member of Parliament (MP) Kuldip Bishnoi.
The development came barely days after Lal's loyalist MLAs Dharam Pal Malik (Gohana) and Rakesh Kamboj (Indri) were disqualified from the membership of the House by the Speaker under the same law.
Delivering the order Kadian, who had reserved his judgement on the petition yesterday, said the 77-year-old legislator has been disqualified from the membership of Vidhan Sabha with immediate effect.
Kadian read out the summary of his 55-page judgment in his office after the state Assembly was adjourned for the day.
The petition was filed by Congress MLA Shadi Lal Batra on January 2 after Bishnoi announced floating of Haryana Janhit Congress at a rally in Rohtak on December 2.
With the disqualification of three of its MLAs, the strength of ruling Congress has now been reduced to 64 in the 90-member Assembly.
The Speaker said though under the law, he could have even taken a suo-motu decision to disqualify the former chief minister, yet he chose to give him several chances to present his view by filing a reply, which he never did.
Kadian said the petitioner had duly submitted with his petition the copies of speeches made by Bishnoi at the Rohtak rally and by some others declaring their intention to severe their relations with the Congress party and forming a new political outfit, which was "widely reported and was recorded in CDs and DVDs given to me".
He said several opportunities were given to Lal, but he never accepted notices and later his counsel even challenged maintainability of the petition.
"We also allowed him to file a one-line response even by holding a press conference, which he never did. The only question involved in this case was whether Lal is still the member of the INC or he has voluntarily given up its membership, but neither the respondent nor his counsel came out with a clear stand," Kadian said.
When their disqualification petition was pending before the Speaker, Lal, Malik and Kamboj had moved Punjab and Haryana High Court on March 4 for a stay on the proceedings, but subsequently they withdrew their plea when the matter was to come up for hearing on March 18.
Lal, who also served as a Union Minister earlier, was ignored by the Congress high command to lead the state by when Congress returned to power in February 2005.
While Lal's elder son Chander Mohan is Deputy Chief Minister in Bhupinder Singh Hooda government, his younger son Kuldeep Bishnoi had unleashed a tirade against his own party ever since his father was overlooked to lead the state.
Two days back, Bhajan Lal issued a press statement, saying he was willing to make any sacrifice in the interest of common man and the state.
He had also termed the disqualification of his two loyal MLAs as "unconstitutional".
Lal, who was elected to the state assembly eight times since 1968, had said that he was fighting for the cause of the common man and that he always kept public interest paramount in his long political career.
Born in Bahawalpur (Pakistan), Lal also served as a Union Minister in the 1980s holding the portfolio of agriculture and forests.
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