BJP had no answers to Cong questions in Vidhan Sabha: Hooda

Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today said the failures of the newly-elected BJP government had been exposed and, like the previous BJP regime, it could neither provide fertilisers nor MSP to farmers.

Addressing a press conference at the end of the Assembly session, Hooda said the government could not give satisfactory answers to the questions raised by the Congress in the House. 

“The government lied about the availability of fertilisers. It said there was no shortage of fertilisers, whereas farmers are in distress due to their non-availability," he added.

Don't give up right on Chandigarh

The government should not give up its right on Chandigarh. A new Assembly should be built along with the existing one, and not on some other land far away. Along with this, the issue of water and Hindi-speaking areas with Punjab should also be strongly put forward.

Bhupinder Singh Hooda, former CM

Hooda said the BJP had promised to give Rs 3,100 for paddy, but "the truth is that after forming the government, BJP did not even give the MSP to the farmers". "Farmers had to sell their crops at Rs 200- 400 less price. Before the elections, the BJP had promised to give gas cylinders for Rs 500 and Rs 2,100 every month to women. But the government has not fulfilled any of its promises till now,” he said.

As regards Kaushal Nigam employees, he said: “The policy makes it clear that BJP is completely against reservation and merit, because there is neither reservation, nor merit, nor transparency in Kaushal Nigam."

He said the Congress had demanded that the practice of contractual employment in Haryana should be stopped and skilled workers be regularised. “No system should be made in which the youth is exploited, but the government rejected the demand of the Congress and dashed the hopes of skilled workers doing temporary employment at low wages,” he stated.

Hooda said BJP had announced to provide two lakh jobs in the elections, but now the BJP was not ready to discuss this and neither had it started any recruitment process. “Unemployment is continuously increasing in Haryana. Due to this, 54 per cent of the state youth are going to other states and countries in search of employment,” he pointed out.

Hooda said: “Today 70 per cent of the population of Haryana has reached below the poverty line... the BJP should tell what happened to its claims of development? If there has been development, how has such a large population become poor?” he said.

He said the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has also confirmed the allegations of the Congress. “It is now clear that BJP has burdened the state with a debt of Rs 4.5 lakh crore,” he stated.