Under attack from the ruling BJP Government for illegally allotting land to AJl and others during his tenure in Haryana, former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Tuesday sought to downplay the issue saying that he has not done anything wrong and not afraid of any inquires.
“We will fight it out in the Court instead on the streets,” said Hooda while referring to the issues of plot allotment to AJl and industrial allotment scam in Panchkula.
Hitting back at the Haryana Government, Hooda while addressing a press conference here said that registration of a case against him and others in the Panchkula industrial plot allotment scam is politically motivated. The Government’s aim is to divert the public attention from its own “wrongdoings”.
Charging the State Government of “political vendetta” against him, Hooda said, “he is not scared of such cases and would continue to raise his voice against the “wrongdoings” of the government. There was no wrong-doing during my tenure and everything was done as per the procedure,” claimed Hooda.
Notably, Haryana Government is likely to recommend an inquiry by Central Bureau of Investigation into the illegal allotment of 3,360 square metre plot in Panchkula’s upscale Sector 6 to Associated Journals ltd (AJl) by previous Hooda-led Congress Government in the State.
The ruling BJP Government in the State had alleged that Hooda has himself signed the file of illegal allotment where the prime land in Panchkula was sold at only about `59 lakh while the price of land was `22 crore at the time of allotment in the year 2005.
Hooda had not only over-ruled legal advice but his Government showed unprecedented pace in ensuring that the AJl, which had close links to the Congress, got the prime land back.
In another case, Haryana State Vigilance Bureau had last week registered a criminal case against Hooda and several others in the Panchkula industrial plot allotment case — referring to him not by name but only as former chairman of the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) in 2012-13. The State Government has also recommended an inquiry by an independent agency into the matter.
Meanwhile, the former Chief Minister Hooda alleged that a paddy purchase scam worth `10,000 crore has taken place in the state under the BJP government headed by Khattar. He demanded that a judicial inquiry headed by a sitting High Court judge should be conducted to unearth the scam and expose those responsible for causing loss to the farmers and the State exchequer.
Hooda alleged that two big scams have taken place in the state under the BJP Government in the past one year. Earlier, a major scam in the girdawari (survey) undertaken by the Khattar Government to assess crop damage had happened when money had been doled out liberally in areas with no crop loss while scores of farmers who lost everything hadn’t received a paisa.
The State Government had ordered verification of paddy stocks of State procurement agencies after opposition parties had raised the issue during the Assembly session. The Government had said that legislators would be asked to assist during the process but no MlA was called during the verification process in their constituency, alleged the senior Congress leader.
Slamming the State Government for failing on various fronts, Hooda claimed that payment to sugarcane millers is pending, pension to senior citizens have not been paid in past six months, electricity tariff are raised and consumers continued to receive inflated power bills in Haryana.