Farmers dig up helipad in Haryana deputy CM's constituency
Jind: Farmers waving black flags on Tuesday dug up a portion of a helipad in Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala's constituency, later claiming that their protest had forced him to cancel his visit there.
Police, however, said the protest by a small group of farmers took place hours after they were informed that the visit had been cancelled. His party said there was no visit planned.
A small hole was dug up by the protesters at the temporary helipad, police said. The protesters asked Chautala to choose between power or side with farmers protesting the Centre's farm laws.
Terming the state government as anti-farmer , they raised slogans against Chautala and dug up a portion of the temporary helipad at Karsandhu village in Uchana.
They claimed that Chautala had to cancel an event near the village because of their protest. However, a Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) spokesperson told PTI that Chautala had no programme to attend in Uchana.
After a press conference in Chandigarh, he had to leave for Delhi, he said. The protesters said till the time Chautala does not come in their support, they will hold protests against the JJP leader.
He should resign and stand with farmers. If he has to support the BJP, let him but then we will not allow him to enter Uchana," they said.
The protesters said Chautala became deputy CM as they voted for him.
"He is a great grandson of Chaudhary Devi Lal, the messiah of farmers who dedicated his entire life for their sake. But Dushyant is clinging to power. He will have to make a choice now, said farmer leader Krishan Kumar.
We wanted to greet him with black flags because he continues to support the anti-farmer BJP government, said another protesting farmer.
Dushyant is the JJP MLA from Uchana. His party with 10 MLAs is supporting the BJP, which has 40 members in the 90-member state assembly.
A police official from Uchana said they were informed early in the morning that the deputy CM's programme has been postponed.
He said in the afternoon, a group of farmers reached the school where the temporary helipad was located. A small hole was dug up by the protesters, the police official said.
At a press conference in Chandigarh earlier in the day, Chautala reiterated that he will tender his resignation the day he feels he is unable to ensure the minimum support price (MSP) for the farmers' produce in Haryana.
To another question on the withdrawal of support to the BJP in the state, Chautala said, "There is no pressure. We are running the government in a very stable manner."
On Tuesday, a group of farmers had shown black flags to Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar passing through Ambala City.
Police on Wednesday said some farmers tried to charge towards the convoy and blocked its movement for some time. They said some of them hurled sticks at some vehicles.
Later, the Haryana Police booked 13 farmers on charges of attempt to murder and rioting.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
