Miss Alone
Prime VIP
Aam Aadmi Party’s khoonta baandh drive (tether a cow) backfired in Gurgaon when a cow tethered by the leaders was taken away by the staff of public works department minister Rao Narbir Singh on Sunday. The statewide drive was aimed at highlighting vote bank politics in the name of bovines.
The party had announced that its members will tether stray cows outside residences of all Haryana ministers and make them take care of the cattle. In Gurgaon, the leaders, wary of some legal implications, chose a milch cow, worth Rs 25,000 of a party worker and tethered it outside Narbir’s residence at Civil Lines.
As soon as the party workers tied it, the minister’s personal staff came and took the cattle inside. Later, the cow was shifted to the minister’s farm house at Narsinghpur, 9km from the city.
“We milked the cow on Sunday evening and shifted it to the farmhouse as there is no space at the residence to keep the cattle. We are taking good care of the cow. Some person approached us twice on Sunday evening to return the cow but we refused since it was left at the doorsteps of the minister. We will take care of it now,” said Laxmi Narayan Yadav, personal assistant to the minister.
According to sources in the AAP, the party leaders dropped the idea of tethering stray cattle as someone might claim it to be stolen cattle and implicate the leaders in a police case.
Cow owner Rajpal Bhadana said he initially asked the minister’s staff to return the cow but has now dropped the idea. “The cow belongs to the party and I will not demand it back again,” said Bhadana, who is now left only with one cow.
AAP spokesperson RS Rathee said party volunteers would track how the cow is served and kept. He said using a stray animal was not mandatory and the aim of the drive was to highlight false promises of BJP government in Haryana.
