Hitting at the BJP over CAG’s report on mining and irregularities in procurement of paddy from the farmers, Leader of Opposition and former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Wednesday demanded CBI inquiry into the scams.
Addressing a news conference here, the senior Congress leader said that CAG reported mining scam worth crores of rupees. He said the CAG report has uncovered the corrupt practices being followed in contravention of all rules and regulations relating to mining, it also placed on record that at many locations the mining mafia has even changed the flow of the river. It is only because of the negligence of mining department that has cost the government a revenue loss of crores of rupees.
Hooda demanded the CBI probe into haphazard sand mining in the State. "The sand mining has altered the course of the river Yamuna and water table in its catchment areas is falling drastically due to it," he added.
Moreover, he said, there has been scam in procurement of paddy from farmers and they are not paid as per government rate. He demanded that the state gvernment should conduct an CBI inquiry over paddy scam.
The senior Congress leader slammed the BJP-JJP -led coalition government in Haryana, saying it had failed to finalise the common minimum programme in the past one month. "When will this government start working? The people don't know what they are doing. They have not yet announced any programme for the people," he said.
Taking a dig at the post-election BJP-JJP alliance, he said in democracy the mandate should be respected. Both the parties had fought Assembly election against each other but formed the coalition Government after the results. "Vote kisi ki, support kisi ki," he remarked. The government was formed on the basis of "selfishness", said Hooda, two-time Chief Minister, adding both have failed to draft common minimum programme though a month has been passed. Whether both the party would contest the next election together, Hooda questioned.
In the 90-member Haryana Assembly, the Congress has 31 MLAs, the BJP 40 and the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) 10.
The BJP-JJP government completed one month in office. Chief Minister Khattar and his deputy Dushyant Chautala took the oath of office on October 27 after a post-poll alliance. After 18 days of dilly-dallying, the government on November 14 inducted 10 in the council of ministers, which included one JJP and one Independent legislator.
DELAY IN LEADERSHIP CHANGE FAULTY TICKET DISTRIBUTION COST CONG
Admitting that there was abnormal delay in finalising the state leadership by the high command and ticket allocation, Hooda said had the decisions been taken on time, the Congress could have formed the government. "It’'s a blunder on our part. We got less time for campaigning as there was delay in ticket allocation. Still we managed to increase our seats from 15 (in 2014 Assembly elections) to 31," he said. In the run-up to the Assembly elections, the Congress had replaced state party chief Ashok Tanwar with Kumari Selja.