SHAH, KHATTAR LEAD MOTORBIKE RALLY
SHAH RALLY Cong calls Jind outing ‘flop show’, INLD rues ‘waste of public money’
BJP president Amit Shah (centre; riding pillion) and Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar (right) during a motorcycle rally near Jind on Thursday.
JIND/CHANDIGARH: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah on Thursday praised the Manohar Lal Khattar-led government for its “corruption-free rule in Haryana” and sent out a message that “development and scam-free governance” will be the poll plank of the party in the next year’s Lok Sabha and assembly polls.
Addressing the BJP’s ‘Yuva Hunkar Rally’ at Pandu Pindara village of Jind district, the BJP chief promised ”sabka vikas” (inclusive development) and said the Khattar government was above caste considerations.
“In BJP’s rule, Haryana is getting R34,000 crore more funds from the Centre compared to the Congress regime. When we are asked from where is this money coming, we answer that this money always existed. Earlier, it used to go into the pockets of friends and family members of Congress leaders. Now, it is going in the state funds,” Shah said.
The BJP president, who reached the venue riding pillion on a motorcycle, alleged that previous governments in Haryana and at the Centre were involved in one scam after another, adding that it was a “huge honour” that the BJP governments in Haryana and the Centre had provided “corruption-free” administrations.
He alleged that while governments in the past had exploited people on caste lines, the Khattar government was working irrespective of caste for upliftment of the poor and farmers.
Praising Haryana, the BJP chief called the state the “land of the brave”. He said the maximum number of martyrs who had died fighting for the country belonged to Haryana, and that the state was producing a large number of sportspersons who were bringing laurels for the country in international tournaments.
Shah said the Centre had given a pro-poor Union budget that would increase life-expectancy. “Earlier, poor were dying of minor illnesses in want of treatment. Our government has introduced ~5 lakh health insurance for 10 crore families of the country. This scheme has famously been called as NaMo care,” he said.
He said the BJP was already in power in 19 states of the country, and this number would increase to 21 once the election results for two of the three north-east states that are going to the polls soon are out on March 3.
Former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda of the Congress, however, described the rally as a “flop show” and said the “thin attendance” indicated that people of Haryana were not interested in the BJP any longer.
Questioning the motive behind the rally, Hooda said Shah did not make any announcement for any section of society. He alleged that the state government had spent ₹22 crore from the exchequer on the central security forces called in for the rally.
“This was besides the expenditure on the rally, which was additional burden on the people of Haryana. The state would have benefitted had the BJP government spent this amount on the central forces for the construction of SYL canal,” he said.
Calling the rally a “sheer waste” of public money Indian National Lok Dal leader Abhay Chautala said: “How could Shah claim that chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar has given a fair and honest government when there are allegations of corruption in several departments?”