Booked for organising protest, Cong candidate & Khattar opponent surrenders in court, gets bail

Gurgaon: Congress candidate Divyanshu Budhiraja, pitted against former CM Manohar Lal Khattar from Karnal parliamentary constituency, surrendered before a city court on Monday in a case filed against him for organising a protest in 2023.After being granted bail by the court, Budhiraja (32) said he wanted to “convey a message” to the former CM that neither was he “afraid”, nor would he “stop”. He surrendered in connection with the case registered at Kherki Daula station on March 25 last year. The Congress candidate and 10 others were booked under sections 147 (rioting), 283 (obstructing public way) and 341 (wrongful restraint) of the IPC after they allegedly protested against the govt and tried to block a road near Kherki Daula toll plaza. They were demanding removal of the toll plaza. Budhiraja, president of Haryana Youth Congress, has been booked in four other cases, all of which are related to protests. In most of the cases, he was declared proclaimed offender after he failed to appear before courts.On Monday, he said the former CM had filed five cases against him. “I would like to tell Manohar Lal ji that a person should not be this scared. Someone should not be suppressed so much that he becomes fearless,” said Budhiraja.Last year, the youth Congress leader had moved Punjab and Haryana high court, seeking quashing of charges against him on the grounds that the cases were results of political vendetta.“You see, since the day my candidature was announced, old cases have been dug up to harass me… But the people of Karnal are understanding. They will give a befitting reply to the govt’s bullying in this election,” Budhiraja said.Former chief minister Khattar had earlier said that Budhiraja was declared a proclaimed offender for not appearing before courts, and his govt had nothing to do with that. “He did not appear before the court and it declared him PO. The judiciary works independently, and it has nothing to do with the election,” Khattar had said.The contest will be closely watched as Khattar, who previously advocated for simultaneous elections, now faces a crucial test as both assembly bypoll and Lok Sabha election will take place in Karnal on May 25.According to party insiders, Khattar must not only secure the victory of his successor, CM Nayab Saini, in the bypoll, but also win his first Lok Sabha battle to ensure BJP’s third consecutive victory in Karnal. The by-election was triggered by Khattar's resignation as chief minister on March 13.In the 2019 election, BJP’s Sanjay Bhatia emerged victorious against Congress’s Kuldip Sharma.