New Delhi: Om Prakash Chautala, who is out on bail on health grounds but, has been addressing political rallies since late last month in violation of the bail conditions, has to go back to jail on Saturday.Â
The Delhi High Court, which cancelled Chautala’s bail, has also banned him from addressing any more election meetings in Haryana, where he has served four terms as Chief Minister. Chautala has been asked to surrender at Tihar jail on Saturday.
“I am pained and disappointed with Chautala’s act. Now that he is discharged from hospital, he should surrender,” the court remarked.
The order has come as a blow to the Indian National Lok Dal which had been gaining political ground in recent days for the October 15 assembly elections in Haryana. The crowds at INLD rallies had started swelling ever since Chautala started addressing them. He addressed dozens of rallies across Haryana in the past fortnight.
The former Chief Minister is serving a 10-year prison term after his conviction in a teachers’ recruitment scam by a CBI court in Delhi in January last year.
He was later granted bail by the Delhi High Court after he pleaded that he was undergoing medical treatment at Medanta Hospital in Gurgaon.
The High Court order came on a petition filed by an individual who pointed out that Chautala was blatantly violating bail conditions. The CBI also pleaded before the court that Chautala’s bail be cancelled.
Taking a jibe at Chautala, Congress leader Shakeel Ahmed said only the Central Bureau of Investigation can ascertain his illness as doctors have no capacity to do so.
Describing Chautala’s case to be unique, Ahmed said: “He is 80 plus. He is out on bail on the ground of illness. He travels usually by air ambulance, but he addresses 31 meetings in one day. I am much much younger than Chautala, we get exhausted by addressing five to six meetings per day. So, only the CBI can ascertain the illness of Chautala because the doctors have no capacity to ascertain the illness of Chautala.”
“So, CBI is the only source to ascertain what kinds of illness where a person who is travelling by air ambulance addresses more than 30 meetings a day,” he added.
All 90 assembly seats in Haryana go to polls October 15. The results will be known October 19.