Former Haryana minister, daughter launch political front

Former Haryana minister Nirmal Singh and his daughter Chitra Sarwara on Wednesday floated a political front, vowing to protect interests of the northern part of the state.

Nirmal Singh, who had served as a minister the Bhajan Lal-led Congress government in the state, had quit the party after his daughter Chitra, who earlier held the post of the All-India Mahila Congress general secretary, was denied ticket from Ambala Cantonment in the assembly elections held last year.

The former minister and his daughter then contested as independent candidates from Ambala City and Ambala Cantt, respectively, but both lost the elections despite getting a sizeable number of votes.

The Haryana Democratic Front, which will be headed by Singh, who has influence in the state's northern region, has appealed to all 'like-minded' forces to come together to strengthen the new outfit.

"The front will protect the interests of north Haryana. We will be holding a big conference of our workers on March 15 at Ambala," said Singh, who has been a four-time MLA.

"The way people supported us in the October 2019 assembly polls, it shows that they want us to be actively involved in politics to serve their cause and raise their voice," said Sarwara.

She said the front believes in "clean politics" and will encourage people with clean image to join them.

"Our priority areas will be education, health and sports," she said, adding that they will also raise issues of farmers, employees, traders and women entrepreneurs.

The front will announce its office-bearers over the next few weeks.

Nirmal Singh claimed that north Haryana has never been benefitted as various parties over the years fielded "outsiders" and they could never make the region their base.

Hitting out at the BJP-JJP coalition in Haryana, Singh said they raised hopes of people with tall promises but failed to deliver on the ground.

"We will compel them to fulfil the promises they made to people," he said.