INLD MP Dushyant Chautala seeks apology from Prakash Committee panel

Committee named Chautala for allegedly adding 'fuel to the fire' during Jat agitation

Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) MP Dushyant Chautala, named in the Prakash Singh Committee report for allegedly adding "fuel to the fire" during the Jat agitation, has accused the Haryana government of trying to defame him and sought an apology from Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.

Chautala claimed that his name was put in the report without any evidence.

"My name has been made public deliberately only to defame me. I will send a privilege notice for naming me in the report without any evidence," he said.

"Prakash Singh Committee report mentioned that I addressed a mega second Jat Mahasabha (2015-16), whereas the truth is that neither I had attended any such Mahasabha, nor delivered any speech," the Lok Sabha MP from Hisar said.

"If the government or the committee has any proof in any shape, including an audio or video, then it should be made public, else they must tender an apology," he said in a statement here.

However, Prakash Singh, former Uttar Pradesh police DGP and BSF chief, told reporters, "I have not manufactured anything. I have gone through government records and in these records wherever I found that some objectionable speeches were made, I only collated these in one chapter."

Chautala, however, said if the government or the committee have proof that he had made such statement they should come out with evidence, otherwise the chief minister should publicly apologise.

"If the charge being levelled against me by the committee is proved, I am ready to face any punishment and even resign as MP. However, if the government fails to prove the charge against me, I will be forced to bring a privilege motion in the Lok Sabha on the issue," Chautala said.

Notably, on Wednesday, BJP MP from Kurukshetra, Raj Kumar Saini, who has been in the dock over his alleged anti-Jat rants, had also hit out at the Prakash Singh Committee report and had said he would quit politics if it was proved that the violence was a result of his comments.

Deputy Commissioner of Jhajjar Anita Yadav, who has been severely criticised by the Committee, too slammed the report, terming it as a "bundle of lies".

The panel, in its 451-page report on violence during the Jat stir, which claimed 30 lives, has said "administrative paralysis" had gripped the state and the "highest functionaries in the government failed to show the kind of guidance, direction and control that is expected in a crisis of such proportions".