Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
Credit: PTI Photo
Rohtak: Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda Friday said the Congress is asking for votes in the name of its work despite not being in power since 2014, while the ruling BJP does not have a single work to show for its 10 years in office.
Since the BJP could not achieve anything, it is unable to give an account of its work and is asking for answers from the Congress, he said.
With Haryana scheduled to go to polls later this year, the Congress on July 15 launched the 'Haryana Maange Hisab' campaign, under which it is targeting the BJP on several issues including unemployment, law and order and farmers' woes.
"The ruling party is demanding an account from the opposition! Such a ridiculous thing is happening for the first time in the history of the state," Hooda said here.
However, he said the Congress has always given an account of its work while being in power or in opposition. "Because our government had achieved new heights of development in every field." Hooda also referred to the recent visit of BJP leader Amit Shah to Mahendragarh, during which the Union Home Minister targeted Hooda over the Haryana Maange Hisab' campaign.
Addressing a 'Backward Classes Samman Sammelan' on July 16, Shah said, "Hooda sahab, you have to give an account of 10 years of misgovernance and depriving Haryana of development." "You give an account of corruption in jobs, spreading casteism, injustice with the downtrodden and nepotism. What account do you want? We will give you an account of things and the people of Haryana will seek an account from the Congress," Shah had said at the Mahendragarh event.
Countering the charges of Shah including pertaining to development, Hooda said, "The venue where Amit Shah was addressing the function, the venue was central university Mahendragarh. He was asking 'hisab' from us on development. The foundation stone of that central university was laid during Congress' time and it was built during our time".
Good education, good healthcare system, jobs, transport, investment, good law and order, these are the development parameters and Haryana was ahead on all these parameters when the Congress ruled the state, Hooda said.
"We built 12 universities, six new medical colleges. The Rajiv Gandhi Education City came up during our time, the National Institute of Fashion Technology, Panchkula, Kalpana Chawla Medical college at Karnal, National Institute of Design at Kurukshetra, Women Medical College in Sonipat district, all these were built during our time," he said.
In Sonipat, Congress' Rohtak MP, Deepender Singh Hooda, undertook a padayatra from Butana village to Gangana village of Baroda constituency on the fifth day of the 'Haryana Maange Hisab' campaign. He alleged the BJP government in the state has not answered a single question raised by the Congress under the campaign.
"If the BJP government does not give an account, then the people of the state will settle their account in October assembly polls," Deepender said.
Meanwhile, in Rohtak, Bhupinder Hooda said that during the Congress's tenure, 2,623 new schools were built in the state, one new Sainik School was built (Rewari) and six new Kendriya Vidyalayas were built.
"The Congress gave more than one lakh jobs in the education department alone," he said.
Hooda, while giving the details of industrial development, said during the Congress government's time, six new Industrial Model Townships were established in the state.
"During our government's term, big companies like Maruti, Asian Paints, NTPC, Reliance, Honda, IOC, Panasonic, Yokohama, Denso were set up in Haryana," he said.
Hooda said five power plants were built during the previous Congress government.
Talking about the welfare of the poor, SC and OBCs, the former CM said the Congress gave free plots of 100 square yards each to about 4 lakh families.
Also, 3.5 lakh poor and SC families were given free houses, he said.
During the BJP's rule, crime graph including crimes against women have increased manifold, he alleged.