Haryana BJP govt performance sheet is blank: Bhupinder Singh Hooda

Chandigarh, July 22: The first BJP government in Haryana is only reversing decisions of the previous government and changing names of old and announced schemes and projects and presenting them as new ones, former Haryana chief minister and senior Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda has said.

"Their (BJP government) performance sheet is blank. I cannot give marks less than zero. But that is what they deserve," Hooda told IANS in an interview here when asked to assess the performance of the nine-month old Manohar Lal Khattar government in the state.

Hooda, who was chief minister of Haryana from March 2005 to October 2014 (two terms), said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) made tall promises to Haryana's electorate but has failed to implement even a single one of them.

"They made 154 promises before the elections (last year). They have not fulfilled even one of them. I come from a political family and have seen governments change in the state. But I have never seen people getting disenchanted by the government whom, they elected, so fast," Hooda, 67, said.

"This (Khattar) government is only reversing the decisions taken by my government. It is also just changing names of our schemes and projects and giving them new names. They are not doing any work. They are only giving slogans. Their own achievement is nil," he said.

Hooda claimed that the SPAT (sports physical aptitude test) was now renamed as Speed by the Khattar government while the 'Ladli' scheme for girls' education was now renamed as 'Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao'. He said that highway projects announced and planned during his government had now been announced again by the BJP government and foundation stones were laid recently.

"Our decisions, especially in the social welfare sector, have been reversed. The old age and widow pension have been reduced. The state's share in compensation for farmers for crop loss has been reduced. Urea and fertilizer was distributed in police stations. The biggest scam is in the girdawri (crop loss assessment by revenue department) where there are instructions to show less loss," Hooda pointed out.

"The only decision that this (Khattar) government has not reversed is our decision to hold assembly elections. They should reverse that also and seek fresh elections. The people will tell them where they (BJP) stand," Hooda said.

"All I want to ask this government is to tell us when will they start working. They should give us a definite date for this. This government is completely directionless," he said.

Hooda, in whose regime the BJP alleged that prime land worth billions of rupees was given to private developers and builders, said that he and his government had done nothing wrong on the land issue.

"They have set up an inquiry commission on this. We have not done anything wrong. All licences and allotments were as per the policy. We have not given even an inch of land to developers after acquiring it. They have purchased the land on their own. Those deals are between private parties and the government had no role. We have nothing to worry," Hooda claimed.

The former chief minister, who was accused of showering favours on land deals to Congress president Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra, said: "The inquiry commission is a political vendetta. Just because someone is related to a well known family does not mean that you will get after him. Licences were granted in governments even before our government. Why doesn't the BJP order a probe into all licences being granted," Hooda asked.

IANS