Budget session: Congress sharpens attack, raises Badoli case, paper leaks

Leading the Congress attack on the government during a discussion on the Governor’s address, former Speaker and party leader Dr Raghuvir Singh Kadian raised the gangrape case registered against BJP state president Mohan Lal Badoli, MBBS paper scam, and paper leaks during the ongoing state board exams.

Kadian claimed that the government had glorified itself falsely in the Governor’s address and that even the Governor (Bandaru Dattatreya) was not interested in reading it. “They should have reflected on the situation of poverty, inflation, and unemployment in the state. The address should have told about the way to bring Haryana’s youth out of drug addiction. It didn’t even talk about a way out to reduce the state's debt,” he said.

“There are no teachers in school, no doctors in hospitals…The government didn’t dwell on its limitations in the Governor’s address,” he said, adding that close to 500 schools did not have teachers, and cited editorials in newspapers on the deterioration of education in the state. He even cited the study (ASER survey) that Haryana students were behind their counterparts in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh in arithmetic skills.

He cited a statement of BJP Pundri MLA Satpal Jamba that drugs were being sold in his area with the connivance of officials, and that he had given 20 names. “It was a big slap on your good governance,” he said. “Every village has about 150 such drug addicts while in bigger villages the number is touching 400…You may find injections thrown on roads leading to the villages,” he claimed.

He also alleged corrupt practices at Hisar Agricultural University (HAU), called the Vice-Chancellor a dictator, and demanded a judicial inquiry into the death of Dr Divya Phogat, an assistant scientist at the university.

On board paper leaks, he said he had never heard papers of even classes 10 and 12 being leaked. On the MBBS paper scam at Pt BD Sharma University of Health Sciences, Rohtak, he said, “It should be ascertained for how long this has been going on. How many benefited? Who would compensate patients who were treated by the fake doctors?”

Describing Power Minister Anil Vij as without power, he said, “He had alleged that the administration doesn’t listen to him. Commenting on the working style of the CM, Vij said the CM travelled in ‘udankhatola’. He alleged that people conspired to make him lose, and even said people conspired to kill him.”

“Showing courage, he even said Badoli should resign until he gets a clean chit in the case lodged against him,” Kadian said.

Speaker Harvinder Kalyan intervened, saying, "we cannot discuss statements here".

At the same time, minister Krishan Bedi alleged that drugs were seized from the MLA hostel room of the late Sri Krishan Hooda. Bhupinder Singh Hooda, a former CM, intervened, saying, "we shouldn’t comment about those who were not members of the House."

Continuing further, Kadian raised the issue of Cabinet minister Rao Narbir Singh issuing a statement that Gurugram was the "epicenter and mother of corruption in Haryana".