BJP, Congress MLAs spar over merit-based jobs

The ruling BJP and the Congress today sparred over merit-based jobs to the youth, even as legislators of both sides traded charges in a bid for one-upmanship.

During the discussion on the Governor's address on the second day of the second sitting of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha here today, BJP MLA Laxman Yadav, while tom-tomming the government’s “unbiased” and merit-oriented selection for government jobs, claimed that there was a time when people used to sell their land to get jobs.

“Our government has given record jobs ‘bina kharchi, bina parchi’ (without any payment or recommendation) and followed the 'Sabka saath, sabka vikas' slogan to the letter, without discriminating against any caste or district," he claimed.

MLA Tejpal Tanwar said that the public had given a third consecutive term to the BJP, which had delivered on all its promises, adding that jobs were given on merit.

Stating that “16-17 departments had been given a complete miss in the Governor’s address” that seemed to have been prepared in a hurry, Congress MLA Raghubir Kadian took on the government over merit-based appointments.

“There was a chat between an official of the CM office and a Deputy Secretary in the Haryana Public Service Commission. The then Chief Minister, Manohar Lal Khattar, had taken an oath on Bhagwad Gita in the House that the guilty would not be spared. Nothing has come of that inquiry,” he claimed, stating that the truth should come out.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mahipal Dhanda protested against the Congress MLA's statement and challenged him to name one job aspirant who had paid money, leading to pandemonium in the House.

Speaker Harvinder Kalyan brought some order to the proceedings by disallowing members on either side to give “running commentary” as they traded charges on the recruitment.

Terming merit-based recruitment as a "historic step" by the BJP, Pataudi MLA Bimla Chaudhary gave an example of how the daughter of a rickshaw-puller was selected for the post of patwari on merit, while Ram Kumar Kashyap, BJP’s Indri MLA, hailed the “no parchi, no kharchi” system and claimed that it had revived the faith of the poor and downtrodden in the government recruitment system.

The Congress MLA from Kallianwali, Shishpal Keharwala, alleged that while Haryana domicile candidates, with PhD and MPhil degrees, were being selected for Group D posts, gazetted posts went to the youth from other states.

He was supported by Naresh Selvel, Congress’ Uklana MLA, who stated that the saffron party was making it such a big achievement as if there had been no merit-based recruitment during the tenure of non-BJP governments.

The Congress also sought details about the candidates offered the jobs. Congress MLA Nirmal Singh claimed that 52 youths from one village had got jobs, while there were villages from where nobody was selected. “How is this possible? The government should give area-wise and caste-wise details of the selected candidates,” he said.

Kanwar Singh, BJP MLA from Mahendragarh, said that his party came to power for the third consecutive term on the basis of the work done by the government, of which giving jobs on merit was a huge factor.

The BJP MLAs who participated in the discussion trumpeted this as the party's biggest USP, while the Congress picked holes in their claims.