Land scams: Hooda in BJP’s firing line

Pradeep Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 22

Call it vendetta politics or fulfillment of pre-poll promises of probing all alleged scams during the previous Congress government, former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was at the receiving end of the investigating agencies during the two-year rule of the BJP government in the state.

From the Manesar land deal to the Panchkula plot allotment scam and the National Herald case, Hooda was clearly in the firing line of the Khattar government. In fact, the CBI, the State Vigilance Bureau (SVB) and the enforcement directorate (ED) seem to be working overtime to investigate alleged wrongdoings of the previous Congress government.

Interestingly, the SVB seems to have its hands full with a large number of cases, a majority of which relate to the alleged irregularities during the Hodoa rule, being handed over to it on Khattar’s orders. In fact, several of the high-profile cases had gone to the central investigation agencies on the recommendations of the SVB apparently to make a strong case against accused in the alleged scams.

The setting up of the Justice Dhingra Commission, which submitted its reports to the Haryana Government recently to probe certain land deals in Gurgaon, was largely seen as an attempt to corner All-India Congress Committee chief Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra and Hooda.

Though the Congress leaders, including Hooda, have cried political vendetta for government’s inquiries, the BJP had defended the institution of these probes claiming that ‘law was taking its own course’.

While the Khattar government went full throttle against the Congress leaders for their alleged acts of omission and commission, it found itself on the back foot on the allegations of the ‘paddy scam’ for the second year in the running. Both the Indian National Lok Dal and the Congress, which do not agree on a majority of issues, are unanimous on the allegations of the ‘paddy scam’, which they alleged was playing havoc with farmers’ interests.