Congress, BJP in war of words over Haryana Assembly poll results

A war of words has broken out between the BJP and the Congress over the results of the Haryana Assembly elections. While state BJP leaders are trying to link the Congress’ unexpected loss in Haryana to the Himachal Government’s failure to fulfil guarantees and its overall governance, the ruling party leaders are accusing the Opposition of spreading blatant lies for political gains. “Leader of the Opposition Jai Ram Thakur is the biggest trader of lies, a PhD in spreading lies,” said Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu here today.

In the run-up to the Haryana elections, the BJP’s top national leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had repeatedly claimed that the Himachal Government was in financial doldrums and had not fulfilled the poll guarantees. Following the BJP’s stunning hat-trick in Haryana, the state party leaders are trying to corner the Congress.

“An effort was made to sell the Himachal Congress model in Haryana. The Chief Minister and other leaders told lies that the government had fulfilled the election guarantees. The people of Haryana saw through the lies and voted the BJP back to power with a resounding victory,” said state BJP president Rajeev Bindal.

The Chief Minister, meanwhile, rejected the conclusions drawn by the BJP. “I went to two constituencies in Haryana and the Congress won both seats. So, this is clearly not the case,” he said. Industries Minister Harshwardhan Chauhan also rejected the BJP’s claims, saying the state elections were largely contested on local issues.

Sukhu slammed the BJP leaders for spreading “blatant lies for political gains”. “The Leader of the Opposition seems to have done a PhD in spreading lies. Sometimes, he talks about a ‘toilet’ tax and sometime about a sports tax. Show me one person in the state who has paid the ‘toilet’ tax,” said Sukhu. He added, “The most unfortunate thing is that the Prime Minister is also saying these things. No tax has been imposed on people since we came to power but lies are being spread blatantly.”