Congress accuses BJP of trading Haryana’s SYL interests for Punjab elections

Raising the contentious issue of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal in the Vidhan Sabha on Monday, the main Opposition Congress alleged that the BJP was compromising Haryana’s interests for electoral gains in Punjab.

Opening the debate on the Governor’s Address on behalf of the Congress, MLA Ashok Arora said despite a ruling by the Supreme Court in Haryana’s favour, the Chief Minister had been holding meetings with his Punjab counterpart without any outcome.

“We don’t have adequate rooms in the Legislative Assembly. The state government pursued a plan for a separate Assembly building in Chandigarh. But now, it has been learnt that no land will be given…For Punjab polls, Haryana interests are being sacrificed,” Arora said.

Taking on the Governor’s Address, Arora alleged that it failed to mention several key issues, including the Rs 5,000 crore paddy scam, the Rs 1,500 crore labour department scam “carried out in the name of labourers,” the deaths of young basketball players on a sports ground, and the swing collapse at the Surajkund fair that claimed the life of a police inspector.

Arora further alleged that the BJP had sought to belittle the Father of the Nation by removing the name of Mahatma Gandhi from the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS).

“When the Centre was paying the money, the Scheme was not being implemented in the state. Now, with a 60:40 ratio under the VB-G RAM G scheme, between the Centre and the state, the BJP will finish it,” he said.

As Panchayats and Development Minister Krishan Lal Panwar attempted to intervene and compare wage rates during the Congress regime and the present government, Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda hit back.

“There are eight lakh registered workers. The government provided 100 days of work to a mere 2,100 workers. They provided nil compensation to the rest,” Hooda said.

Arora also alleged that several licences under the Pandit Deen Dyal Upadhyay Awas Yojana were being allotted to family members of BJP MLAs. Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Krishan Bedi and former minister Mool Chand Sharma asked him to name the legislators concerned. In response, Arora challenged BJP MLAs to make public the names of all licence holders and scrutinise the directors’ details.

Alleging “vote theft,” Arora claimed that the state government had included 76 per cent of the population in the Below Poverty Line (BPL) list ahead of elections, only to remove 14 lakh names after the polls.

“The BJP government talks about ‘Viksit Bharat,’ but young basketball players are dying due to poor sports conditions in the state,” he added.

Speaker expunges names after uproar

During the discussion on the Governor’s Address, BJP MLA Ram Kumar Gautam mentioned the names of Mahatma Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, triggering protests from Congress MLAs who stormed the well of the House demanding an apology.

Speaker Harvinder Kalyan expressed displeasure over members entering the well and warned that such conduct would not be tolerated.

Hooda demanded that the names of individuals who were not members of the House be expunged from the proceedings. The Speaker accepted the request.