Congress corners BJP over equitable development
Pradeep Sharma
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, February 24
A subdued BJP was at the receiving end of an aggressive Congress over its oft-repeated slogan of “sabka saath, sabka vikas” (equal development for all) during the Vidhan Sabha here today.
MLA’s jibe
A jibe by Congress legislator Jagbir Malik that there was nothing worthwhile in the Governor’s Address as even Satyadeo Narain Arya had preferred to skip reading the whole Address evoked laughter in the House. Malik was referring to Arya addressing the House for about 10 minutes on February 20, asserting that the rest of the Address be deemed to have been read.
On the first day of the debate on the Governor’s Address, the BJP was in the firing line even as a majority of ministers, including Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, were conspicuous by their absence for a majority of time during the discussion.
The Congress attack was led by Mahendragarh legislator Rao Dan Singh, who picked holes in the BJP’s claims of the equitable development.
“All major development works, including setting up of power plants, extension of metro lines and opening of universities, colleges and hospitals, took place during the Congress regime,” he said.
Alleging that the BJP was “running a government on borrowing”, Dan Singh wanted to know how much investment had materialised on the ground as the BJP had been claiming that MoUs worth over Rs 6.28 lakh crore were signed during various investment meets over the past five years.
Vij mum during discussion
Firebrand Home Minister Anil Vij was not in his element during the discussion on the Governor’s Address. Often leading the government attack on Opposition, he did not make any noticeable intervention despite provocations by Congress MLAs even though he was the senior-most minister in the absence of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala.
He advocated a hard line against the growing drug menace in the state, saying the Congress was with the BJP government on this issue.
Other Congress legislators, including Jagbir Malik (Gohana) and Varun Chaudhary (Mullana), were unsparing in their attack.
Even as the Congress blasted the BJP, ruling party legislators, including Assem Goel (Ambala City) and Mahipal Dhanda (Panipat-Rural) made feeble attempts to counter the Congress.
This prompted Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda to tell the Chair that if ruling party members continued to disrupt Congress members, the party would be forced to adopt similar tactics when the BJP members spoke on the Governor’s Address.
The ruling party’s counter-attack was handicapped by Khattar’s absence during the discussion on the Governor’s Address. Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala, Home Minister Anil Vij, Agriculture Minister JP Dalal and Power Minister Ranjit Singh were absent most of the time.
Except for Education Minister Kanwar Pal Gujjar, no other minister tried to make an intervention when the BJP was under attack from the Congress.
Earlier, Nangal Chaudhary MLA Abhe Singh Yadav, while initiating the discussion, claimed that the BJP government had undertaken “sabka saath sabka vikas”, especially in agriculture, health and education.
Jogi Ram Sihag, JJP MLA (Barwala), asked the government to take back cases registered against youths during the Jat quota agitation.
Legislators of the BJP like Deepak Mangla (Palwal) and Lila Ram Gujjar (Kaithal) listed the achievements of the state government in the last five years.
