Hooda’s wife has ‘no link’ with P’kula hotel

Tribune News Service

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Chandigarh, May 6

Nandita Hooda, Managing Director of Panchkula-based Hotel Golden Tulip, today refuted the Haryana Government’s allegations that Asha Hooda, wife of former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, was the “real owner” of the hotel. The Haryana Government, had in a press note yesterday, held Asha Hooda to be the benami owner of the hotel situated on the Morni Hill road.

Nandita, who is one of the allottees of the industrial plots in Panchkula, allotted by the previous Hooda regime, contested the government’s claims on her not being the real owner of the hotel. “As a matter of fact, Asha Hooda has nothing to do with the hotel. We had purchased private land to build this hotel. We did not receive any concessions from the government at any stage. Factually incorrect allegations have been levelled just to malign us,” she said in a statement issued here.

Interestingly, a government press note yesterday tried to link Nandita with Asha. The government release read: “The ownership of the hotel actually rests with Asha Hooda”.

The press note has sparked allegations of ‘political vendetta’. It is pertinent to point out that the Haryana Government has ordered a vigilance inquiry into the allotment of industrial plots by former CM Bhupinder Hooda. Nandita is one of the beneficiaries. But there is no probe into benami property, thus mentioning Asha, who is not a beneficiary in the allotment of industrial plots, is being viewed as an act of “political armtwisting”, especially in light of Hooda’s proposed anti-government campaign from May 31.