Dushyant Chautala hits out at BJP on PLPA

Amid protests and walkout by the opposition, the Haryana Assembly has passed amendments to an act, opening up thousands of acres to real estate and other non-forest activity that were protected under it for over a century.

Chandigarh: Haryana MP Dushyant Chautala lashed out at the ruling BJP on Monday for amending the Punjab Land Preservation Act, claiming it will destroy the forest cover in the Aravallis and cause immense damage to the environment if implemented.

The Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) leader said Haryana already has a thin forest cover and after the implementation of the act, it will pose more danger to it.

"If the act is implemented, it will destroy the forest cover in the Aravallis (Faridabad-Gurgaon region) and cause immense damage to environment. The government wants to extend benefit to its own people and hence used its majority for passing the PLPA amendment bill," Chautala told reporters here.

The lawmaker claimed that the JJP is looking into who all have purchased lands in the Aravallis area recently.

Amid protests and walkout by the opposition, the Haryana Assembly on Wednesday passed amendments to an act, opening up thousands of acres to real estate and other non-forest activity that were protected under it for over a century.

Chief Minister M L Khattar had said the Punjab Land Preservation (Haryana Amendment) Bill, 2019, was the "need of the hour", saying as it was a "very old" act and much has changed over a period of time.

The JJP came into existence in December last year after the Indian National Lok Dal, a party founded by former deputy prime minister Devi Lal, split following a bitter power struggle between his grandsons -- Abhay Chautala and Ajay Chautala.

Dushyant Chautala is the elder son of Ajay Chautala. The Hisar MP's brother Digvijay Chautala had contested the Jind bypolls held in January and finished runner up.

Dushyant Chautala said the JJP will contest all the 10 Lok Sabha and 90 assembly seats in Haryana.

The party may also contest on one seat in Delhi, he stated.

He informed the JJP has just been recognised as a registered party and will get the party symbol next week.

On the Jind bypolls, Dushyant Chautala said, "The JJP fought the Jind byelection within 40 days of the formation of the party and gave a good fight to BJP candidate. We beat the Congress hands down.

"The party which made fun of us (INLD) and called us 'bachha' (child) forfeited its security deposit. This shows the people's support, especially of the youth to the JJP. We will perform well in the upcoming LS and then Vidhan Sabha polls," he claimed.

Asked to comment on his relations with his uncle Abhay Chautala, whom he had recently dubbed as a "non-serious politician", he said blood relations in the family will remain intact, but political ideology differs and there will not be any compromise with the ideology.

He also ruled out any possibility of entering into any alliance with the INLD for the upcoming polls.

To a question, he said there was never any formal alliance with the AAP for the Jind bypoll, though the party had extended their support.

"The AAP supported us though, but there was no alliance with them. Nobody had announced any alliance," he said.

The AAP has decided to fight on the 10 Lok Sabha seats from Haryana on its own strength.

The Aam Aadmi Party, which had indicated that it could enter into a tie-up with the JJP after extending support to it in the Jind bypoll, failed to reach an agreement on seat-sharing with the fledgling outfit.