In a big blow to the Congress ahead of the October Assembly polls in Haryana, senior party leader and Power Minister Captain Ajay Singh Yadav on Tuesday resigned from the Council of Ministers, alleging that he was facing discrimination at the hands of State Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and being sidelined in the Government.
“There are many issues due to which I have taken this step,” he said after submitting his resignation to the Chief Minister.Yadav, who has been critical of Hooda’s style of functioning, said: “The bureaucracy is dominating the State Government and nobody listens to the Ministers. All powers lie only with Hooda.”
“Despite being a Cabinet Minister, I couldn’t get a medical college made in my constituency. It remained merely on paper and never materialized. I felt belittled in front of the people of my constituency,” said the Rewari MlA.
He charged the Chief Minister with discrimination against most areas of the State other than Hooda’s home district Rohtak and the adjoining districts of Sonipat and Jhajjar.
He, however, made it clear that he would not leave the party and remain loyal to the Congress and professed faith in the leadership of party president Sonia Gandhi.
“I am loyal to Sonia Gandhi and I will abide by whatever she says. I have old relations with the Gandhi family.
I had no problem with Hooda until 2009, but things started taking a different shape in his second term. I was made Finance Minister but even when I was doing well, this portfolio was snatched from me on false grounds. A CD was prepared where I was falsely accused of praising Narendra Modi whereas I had made some comments pertaining to the agricultural policy of the Gujarat Government,” he said. “I have never praised Modi,” he clarified.
Yadav, a MlA for five consecutive terms, is one of the senior-most leaders of the State and was given a Cabinet berth in both terms of the Hooda Government. He worked as Minister of Power, Forests and Environment and was formerly Minister of Irrigation, Revenue and Elections.
The Minister’s resignation has considerably weakened Hooda’s position as several Congress leaders have left the party in recent months alleging either bias in development or the dictatorial approach of Hooda.
Yadav said the leadership had failed to learn lessons from the lok Sabha election debacle where the Congress had lost nine of the ten seats.
Asked about Hooda’s response to his resignation, Yadav said the Chief Minister asked him to reconsider, but he declined.
Asked if he had raised the issues bothering him at Cabinet meetings, Yadav said the Cabinet meetings were restricted to the agendas being discussed.
“I had detailed the reasons for the party’s defeat before the Antony Panel,” he said, adding he would soon meet the party leadership. “I want respect. If that is not given what else can I doIJ I had to resign under compulsion when the bias in matters of development, recruitment, induction of members of various commissions and other statutory bodies, domination of the bureaucracy and neglect of party cadres, including MlAs continued, and the party failed to learn any lessons from the lok Sabha debacle,” he said.
Yadav said it was essential for him to resign in order to get his message across, so that the party does not suffer a defeat in the forthcoming Assembly elections also. He said that development and other activities in the State had been confined to a couple of districts and not the entire State.
Backing Yadav, Birender Singh said: “What Ajay Yadav is saying today, I have been saying for the past five years. I have been saying there is regional bias in development.”
Singh, who has already said that he will not contest the October Assembly polls if Hooda is not removed, claimed if the party high command would not act now, “things are set to worsen”.
“I have information that like Yadav, others will also follow suit,” he said and claimed that another Minister, “was contemplating resigning”. “A large number of MlAs will desert the Hooda camp and I fear that the Congress may lose majority before the polls,” he claimed.
Yadav also opposed the induction of two members to the State Information Commission and three to the Right to Service Commission, saying only bureaucrats have been inducted as members. “Didn’t they (Government) see any politician or other personsIJ If the posts had been given to party cadres it would have been better,” he said.
Significantly, Haryana Congress has lost several of its stalwarts in the recent past. Rao Inderjit Singh, now a Union Minister in the Modi Cabinet, showed the way by leaving the party and joining BJP. He had raised the banner of revolt against Hooda before joining BJP. He was followed by Chief Parliamentary Secretary Dharambir Singh from Sohna, who joined BJP and now is the MP from Bhiwani-Mahendra Garh constituency.
Even Hooda’s close friend, Ambala City MlA Vinod Sharma left the Congress before the lok Sabha polls and is now expected to join the BJP. He has already formed a regional party.
Besides, Hooda is facing tough challenge from some of the veterans in the party. Birender Singh and Kumari Selja along with their supporters had been raising objections to Hooda’s style of functioning. Singh is expected to join BJP anytime now as sources insist that he is in touch with the party leaders in Delhi. Meanwhile, Opposition parties were quick to attack the ruling party after Yadav resigned.
“Congress is a sinking ship. Its leaders have realised that misdeeds, bad governance and corruption in the last ten years are finally becoming an issue and they are now trying to find an escape route. Even senior Ministers are not able to face the wrath of the people..... But this is not going to save the Congress from defeat,” BJP leader and party’s national spokesman Abhimanyu said.
INlD said the Congress is a sinking ship and everyone now is trying to leave the party. State INlD President Ashok Arora said for nine and half years, Yadav enjoyed Cabinet berth and is complaining now.