Doleful Behal reflects on his association with Cong

Gurdaspur, Feb 11 (UNI) As the curtain came down on the electioneering in Punjab, a veteran 'Congressman' sitting within the confines of the four walls of his house in this town looks back on his long innings in the political field and his association with the party, from which he was expelled.

''I am sad, did I deserve such a treatment?'' he asked the visitors, who came calling on him to express their 'sympathies' with him.

This veteran politician is none other than Khushal Behal, who along with his son Raman Behal, was expelled from the primary membership of the Congress for a period of six years. His 'offence', according to Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, was that he was not extending support to party candidate Pritam Singh Bhinder from the Gurdaspur assembly seat.

The elder Behal was the seniormost Congress leader of Punjab who was expelled from the party during the election campaign to the February 13 polls. He was among the three sitting ruling party MLAs to be expelled.

Interestingly enough, his expulsion was announced at a public meeting by Capt Singh, who claimed that he was doing so after consulting Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) chief Shamsher Singh Dullo.

''Capt Singh has no right to expel me from a party which my father served and then I did for so long,'' Mr Behl said while reminiscing his fathers association with the Congress under Lala Lajpat Rai.

A number of sympathisers, including many from the rural areas who were present at the residence of the Behals, pointed out that their leaders integrity could not be questioned by a person like Capt Singh, who had left the Akalis to join the Congress. '' What right has Capt Singh to expel Behal Sahib?'' they said.

''I was born a Congressman and will die a Congressman and will not join, support or vote for any other party,'' he said while talking to reporters.

Mr Behal, who had fought and won many an electoral battle, had been a minister in various Congress ministeries headed by the late Giani Zail Singh, the late Darbara Singh and the late Beant Singh.

He was school education minister in the cabinet of Capt Singh, but was dropped about a year and a half ago on the grounds that his performance was below par.

Mr Behal, nearing 80, was a front-runner for the Congress ticket from Gurdaspur, a consituency which he had represented on a number of occasions. However, his claim was overlooked by Capt Singh who lobbied with the Congress High Command to get the ticket for Pritam Singh Bhinder, husband of former MP from Gurdaspur, the late Sukhbans Kaur Bhinder.

His son Raman is the member of the Gurdaspur Municipal Committee and, too, had applied for a Congress ticket.

UNI