BJP used BPL card as election gimmick: Dushyant Chautala

Former Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala on Wednesday launched a sharp attack on the ruling BJP in Haryana, accusing it of misleading the public by using the Below Poverty Line (BPL) card as a poll strategy.

Speaking to reporters during his visit to Hisar, where he reviewed the JJP’s ongoing membership campaign, Chautala alleged that the BJP government had granted BPL status to lakhs of families ahead of elections, only to delist them afterward.

“Before the elections, BJP issued new BPL cards to families with an annual income of less than Rs 1.80 lakh to win the elections, and after the election, these families were removed from the BPL category,” said Chautala.

Mocking the state’s leadership, he asked: “What magic does Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini have that in just eight months, BJP has made 6.36 lakh poor families wealthy?”

Chautala further accused the BJP-JJP breakaway government of burdening the poor by hiking the price of subsidised mustard oil for BPL families.

“Two litres of oil that used to cost Rs 40 now costs Rs 100. The government has dealt a major blow to the poor,” he said.

The former Deputy CM also criticised the state's law and order situation, saying that crime incidents were rising and the administration was losing control.

“Haryana, once a peaceful state where people used to eat milk and curd, has now become a crime state,” Chautala said.

“Employees are out on the roads, and people are living in fear.”

During his Hisar visit, Chautala attended over a dozen programmes and urged party workers to accelerate the membership campaign ahead of upcoming political battles.