Chautala parole: Fresh war of words between LG, AAP govt

AAP has been alleging that LG Najeeb Jung was showing "undue interest" in OP Chautala getting parole.

New Delhi: The war of words between Lt Governor Najeeb Jung and ruling AAP over the parole controversy escalated on Friday with the government questioning how he knew about a second parole plea by former Haryana Chief Minister O P Chautala without the file reaching his office.

Though Jung's office was not mentioning about any second parole plea by Chautala, today it claimed the LG had come to know about it "informally" and had mentioned it during a meeting with Delhi Home Minister Satyendra Jain on October 21.

The AAP has been alleging that Jung was showing "undue interest" in Chautala getting parole and had pressured Jain in this regard.

After the LG dismissed the charges saying Chautala's parole plea was rejected on October 5, the AAP government had dared the LG to deny that the "pressure" on Jain was based on another parole plea.

"It was brought to the notice of the Home Minister that parole case of Om Prakash Chautala is pending with the Home Department and should be processed on merit without political considerations. Delay in processing the file by the Home Department is not reasonable as the convict is 84 years old and has had medical history," a statement by LG office said.

It said that Jain had himself fixed up the meeting with Jung with the request of withdrawing 24 cases registered against AAP leaders pending in various courts including Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Another meeting was held on the same issue on September 11, OSD to Jung Ajay Choudhary said.

Rejecting the claim, the AAP government said it had recommended withdrawal of prosecution against a number of political leaders including from both BJP and Congress. It said the list includes Congress' Mukesh Sharma and BJP's Vijay Goel, Parvesh Verma, Vijendra Gupta and Ramesh Bidhuri.

The government claimed vindication saying the LG's statement amounts to his "admission" that he was in touch with people related to Chautala. "How did the LG know that another parole application had been filed by Chautala when the file had not even reached him?" a senior government official asked.

Jung's Secretariat said that it was obvious that Jain has tried to make "political capital" out of this reference and "has used the occasion to vent out angst at his unsuccessful attempt to push through the withdrawal of cases against AAP leaders."

It said that the government's allegation that Jain was "pressurised" by Jung to grant parole to Chautala was "purely a figment of imagination".

"On late evening of October 28 again a fresh file was received from the office of the Chief Minister on the subject of OP Chautala's parole. This file contained notes from Chief Minister and Home Minister alleging that the LG had pressurised the Home Minister to consider the parole to OP Chautala," the statement by LG's office said.