At Mewat rally, Bhupinder Singh Hooda accuses BJP of making false promises, says Congress will cut diesel levies by 50 per cent.
Mewat, Haryana: Farm loan waiver, elderly pension of Rs 3,000, slashing state levies on diesel by 50 per cent are among a slew of steps that the former Haryana chief minister and senior Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda has promised to initiate if elected to power.
Speaking at a rally in Mewat Saturday, Hooda accused the BJP of making false promises. “BJP jhoot ki sarkar chala rahi hain,” he said.
The rally in Mewat was part of the Congress’ ongoing Jan Kranti Rath Yatra, launched in view of the Haryana assembly elections as well as Lok Sabha polls in 2019.
Similar rallies were in held Palwal and Panipat earlier this year.
Why Mewat?
Mewat, a Muslim majority region, is India’s most backward district, according to a NITI Aayog report.
The region is plagued by severe water shortage and regular power outages among other issues. “The canal which supplies water to Mewat is unhygienic and I have to spend Rs 700 a month in order to get clean water from tankers,” Mohammad Sammor, a local, told ThePrint.
He also said power supply in the village is very erratic.
Another resident, Myakat Ali, claims the BJP-led state government has done nothing to address their grievances related to water and power crisis.
The Congress is eyeing to make inroads into Mewat, an INLD stronghold.
Hooda, who began his speech by saying “As-salamu alaykum” and “Ram-Ram”, urged all the different communities to come together and vote BJP out of power.
Promises and accusations
The former Haryana CM promised to eliminate problems of water crisis and electricity in Mewat. He also reiterated the promise of providing a pension of Rs 3,000 to the elderly.
Hooda said the Congress would waive the loans of the farmer if it is voted back to power.
“BJP has completey ignored the people who had elected them to power,” he said.
“We will also slash the state levies on diesel by 50 per cent, making it the cheapest in the country,” Hooda said.
He claimed that diesel price was the lowest in Haryana as the VAT was 8.24 per cent, which has been hiked to 17.50 per cent by BJP.
State Congress chief skips the rally
While several Congress leaders, including state vice-president Aftaab Ahmed, Pandit Kuldeep and Hooda’s son and Rohtak MP Deepender Singh Hooda took part in the rally, Haryana Congress chief Ashok Tanwar was conspicuous by his absence.
The factionalism in Haryana Congress was quite visible in the rally with Tanwar finding no mention in the posters and banners.