Modi, Hooda 'property dealers' at farmers' expense, says Kejriwal

Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday dubbed Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi as “birds of a feather” even as he charged that the two were “property dealers” making “big money” for themselves.

Kejriwal, who is on a three-day road show through Haryana where election for the 10 Lok Sabha seats is to take place on April 10, alleged that Hooda and Modi were exploiting the common man by acting as “property dealers”.

“They are obliging big corporate houses and making big money (for) themselves in the name of acquisition of land,” he alleged while addressing a gathering from his open jeep.He claimed that both the state governments had deprived the farmers of their due by acquiring their land and then refusing to pay adequate compensation to them.

Claiming that corruption was at its peak in both the states, he alleged that government jobs were on sale in Haryana as well as Gujarat. “Tell me, can you get a job in Haryana without paying its price,” he asked the crowd that had gathered at the Jokholi Adda in the district.

Targeting the media, Kejriwal said it was creating a “false impression” of a ‘Modi wave’ in the country. “If there was such a wave, why did Modi decide to contest from two seats and why was he desperately looking for a safe seat,” he asked.

The former Delhi chief minister further said that he too could have contested from a “safe seat” of Delhi but he did not do so as he was confident that people anywhere in the country were ready to elect clean and efficient candidates.

He said that he had taken a stand against government’s move to increase gas prices by three times as it would crush the common man. “This would result in a hike in the prices of fertilizers and even power tariff which would make our lives miserable,” he said. 

Continuing his tirade against Modi, Kejriwal asked how can he be paraded as an ideal leader when there have been “5,872 suicide cases of farmers” reported from Gujarat.

Kejriwal, who was campaigning for AAP’s candidate from Kurukshetra Lok Sabha seat Balvinder Kaur, came down heavily on Congress candidate from the constituency Naveen Jindal saying that his name had figured in the coal scandal.

Referring to BJP candidate from Kurukshetra Raj Kumar Saini, he alleged that INLD had openly stated that they had once bought him for Rs 25 lakh. “What more proof is required of the corruption prevalent in this state,” he asked.