Haryana fell behind in many areas under BJP's rule: Congress

'Haryana, which was number one in per capita income and per capita investment, was doing good on the law and order front and in sports, and providing employment, has now fallen behind in various spheres,' said Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Rohtak: Haryana fell behind in various parameters, be it per capita income or law and order, during the BJP's nine and a half years of rule in the state, the Congress alleged on Sunday, calling its rival 'a party that lies'.

"The time has come to change the BJP-led governments both at the Centre and in the state," Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda said at a 'Jan Aakrosh' rally at the new grains market in Meham, a day after the Election Commission announced the Lok Sabha polls.

Polling in Haryana's 10 Lok Sabha seats will be held in the sixth phase of the seven-phase elections on May 25. Assembly polls in the state are due later this year.

It is painful to see that Haryana, which was "number one in per capita income and per capita investment, was doing good on the law and order front and in sports, and providing employment, has now fallen behind in various spheres," the former chief minister said.

"Today Haryana is facing unemployment, the crime graph is up, the problem of drugs is there, and the state has become number one in corruption. The Social Progress Index released by the Government of India has stated that Haryana is one of the most unsafe states," Hooda alleged.

He said after the state assembly elections, which are due in October, "change of power is certain in Haryana".

"When the Congress forms government in the state, the elderly will be given a monthly pension of Rs 6,000, 300 units of (monthly) electricity will be free for every family, gas cylinders will be given for Rs 500 to women... plots of 100 square yards will be given to poor families for free and houses will be built on those plots," the Congress leader said.

State Congress president Udai Bhan, in his address, attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saying, "The BJP is a party that lies. It has not fulfilled any of the promises it made to the people, whereas the Congress fulfils what it says."

"When the Congress forms government, work will be done to provide relief to farmers from debt through loan waiver, along with a guarantee of MSP (minimum support price) for crops," he said.

Giving details of development works done in the state during the erstwhile Hooda-led Congress government, he said that 81.5 kilometer of metro line was laid in Haryana then.

"Four big power plants and one nuclear power plant were established in Haryana. The present government has not done the work of generating even a single unit of electricity," he said.

On Nayab Singh Saini replacing Manohar Lal Khattar as the chief minister of Haryana, Deepender Hooda, without taking names, said, "The BJP put the blame of the failure of the nine-and-half-year-old government on the (former) chief minister (Khattar) by changing him."

But making such superficial changes won't work and "the people will change the entire BJP government" in the elections, he said.

"In the last nine and a half years, the BJP government did not build any new hospital, school or college, or a big institute in the state. But it has built luxurious offices for itself," he said.

On the BJP and its ally Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) separating, he said, "Everyone knew well in advance that the BJP and the JJP had made an agreement to break their alliance before the elections."

The BJP-JJP coalition has 'looted' the state for five years and the parties are still in collusion, Deepender Hooda alleged.

The proof of this is that instead of voting against the BJP, during the Saini government's trust vote, the JJP issued a whip to its MLAs asking them to remain absent, he claimed.

The BJP has been power in Haryana since 2014. In its second term, the party formed government in 2019 along with the JJP. The alliance partners separated with the changing of chief ministers this month.