Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his government may not have much to do with Gujarat and its Chief Minister Narendra Modi but they leave no opportunity to show that Haryana and Hooda are way ahead of their Gujarati counterparts.
Be they his rallies or statements, Hooda does not let go any occasion to first draw a comparison and then to claim that Haryana and his government are miles ahead of Gujarat and its Modi.
In a recent address, Hooda took a dig at the Gujarat chief minister.
"Mr Modi claimed that the entire milk to Delhi was being supplied from Gujarat. The reality is that the per capita milk production in Gujarat is just 400 gm whereas it is 750 gm in Haryana," Hooda told his audience.
With Gujarat being referred to as the No. 1 state for big bucks investment, Hooda is in no mood to accept it.
"When I took over the reign of Haryana in 2005, Haryana was at 14th place in per capita investment. The planned budget of Haryana was only Rs.2,300 crore. But now, Haryana has a planned budget of Rs.26,000 crore and the state is ranked one in per capita investment," Hooda claimed.
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In the past one year, Hooda and other Congress leaders often draw comparisons with Gujarat and Modi to prove that Haryana and Hooda are better.
At most functions, rallies and even in statements, Hooda and his colleagues rattle out figures to prove their point that Gujarat, which is showcased as the ideal state and destination for big bucks investment, is actually behind Haryana on most parameters.
"People talk about development in Gujarat but, in fact, Haryana is ahead of Gujarat in 50 areas of development and Haryana is the second largest contributor of food grains to the central pool," Hooda claims.
"Gujarat is at number six in per capita income, whereas Haryana is ahead of big states."
The comparisons with Gujarat are regarding the plan budget, welfare schemes for students, old age people, Scheduled Castes, freedom fighters and widows, benefits for sportspersons and medal winners and many other categories.
Haryana's claims of being better grew in the run-up to the assembly elections in Gujarat last year. Modi returned to power for a third consecutive time.
What Hooda is not able to explain is the why and how of public sector automobile giant Maruti-Suzuki going ahead with its multimillion dollars investment in Gujarat despite having its base in Haryana's Gurgaon area for nearly three decades. Perhaps, Hooda can draw solace from the fact that the automobile giant first invested in Haryana and later moved to Gujarat.
(Jaideep Sarin can be contacted at jaideep.s@ians.in)