launching a blistering attack on former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his son, Rohtak MP Deepender Singh Hooda, Haryana Finance Minister Capt. Abhimanyu on Friday dubbed them as “habitual liars” and accused the duo of spreading lies about the financial condition of the State.
Responding to the allegations of Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his son regarding State being pushed into financial mess under BJP’s three years tenure, Capt. Abhimanyu said both father and son were trying to misguide the people by issuing false and misleading statements.
During the ten-year rule of the previous Congress Government under Hooda, people had to face rampant corruption, nepotism and casteism. The State Government would expose their lies and bring out the truth in front of the people, said the Finance Minister while talking to the mediapersons here.
Referring to the statement made by the former Chief Minister that when he presented the budget in 2014-15, the State had a loan of `70,000 crore which has now increased to `1,41,000 crore, the Finance Minister said in the 2014-15 budget, the loan proposed was `70,900 crore but this was in addition to `36,000 crore loan which included loan of `25,750 crore on power utilities.
Capt. Abhimanyu clarified that the present Government had not taken any new loan but has taken over the loan of `25,750 crore of power utilities. The loan of `1,41,000 crore for 2017-18 is well within the loan capacity limit of the Government, he claimed when asked to respond on Hooda’s allegations that the government has crossed FRBM limit.
After the completion of three years tenure of BJP Government in Haryana on October 26, two-time former CM Hooda had held a press briefing and made several allegations against the ruling BJP. Few days later, MP Deepender Singh Hooda had also made similar allegations against the BJP led Haryana Government.
The duo had alleged wasteful expenditure by the government in the name of swarna jayanti celebrations, declining per capita income, mounting debt liability among other things.
Continuing his tirade against the former CM, the Finance Minister said that Bhupinder Singh Hooda should change his name to “Bhupinder Singh Jhoota” now as he has been spreading lies about various issues in the State.
Dismissing the allegations that the present government has wasted `1,600 crore on swarna jayanti celebrations of the state as baseless, Capt Abhimanyu clarified that a sum of `100 crore had been earmarked for the swarna jayanti celebrations from inaugural to the closing ceremony.
Only `27 crore had been spent so far. This amount also includes the cost of the awards given to artists and sports persons, he added.
When asked that the Chief Minister Manohar lal had recently said that `40 crore has been spent on swarna jayanti celebrations, Capt. Abhimanyu clarified that so far, payments to the tune of `27 crore have been made in this regard and the final amount is yet to be worked out.
The Finance Minister also ridiculed the statement made by Deepender Hooda that during their tenure, the economy of the state had grown by 36 per cent, saying that he has a skewed understanding of economic matters.
“We are heading towards Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) growth rate of above 9 per cent in 2017-18 whereas it was 7.7 in 2012-13, 8.2 per cent in 2013-14, 5.7 per cent in 2014-15, 9.0 per cent in 2015-16 and 8.7 per cent in 2016-17,” he claimed.
The Finance Minister said there was also a huge difference in terms of the loans taken and money spent by the previous government and the present government.
“We have given `3,000 crore to the farmers in the last three years on account of damage to the crops due to natural calamities. Contrary to this, the previous Government did not spend even `800 crore on this account during its ten-year two-term tenure,” said the Minister.
On a question about the progress of MoUs being signed during ‘Happening Haryana’ event last year and reports of China’s Wanda Group not investing in the state , he did not respond saying that he was not updated on the information as Industrial Department is not under him.
Responding to Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s statement that the number of people who died during the Jat reservation, Dera violence and Rampal incidents were far more than those killed in Jammu and Kashmir in a firing by security forces, Capt Abhimanyu said that all this is due to their conspiracy.
Hooda is to be blamed for murdering the peace and brotherhood in Haryana and for conspiring to burn the state during Jat quota agitation, alleged the Minister.