Hitting out at the BJP-JJP dispensation in Haryana, leader of Congress legislature party Bhupinder Singh Hooda said on Wednesday that even a month after coming to power, the alliance is yet to finalise the common minimum programme and people are still waiting for the government to start functioning.
In a dig at the saffron party, he said BJP leaders are holding party meetings at various places in the state to introspect the reasons behind the fall in their number of seats in the Assembly.
In the Assembly elections held in October, the BJP got 40 seats, seven less than what it got in 2014, the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) 10 and the Congress 31 seats. Following the election, the Dushyant Chautala-led JJP stitched an alliance with the BJP to form government.
"A month has passed since they came to power. But they are yet to finalise their Common Minimum Programme. While they are busy introspecting the reasons behind their poor performance, people are waiting for this government to start functioning," Hooda told reporters here.
"I know the reason why they (BJP) performed badly. It is because they did not fulfil the promises made to the people during the 2014 assembly polls," he said, adding the BJP used to claim that it will get more then 75 seats in the 90-member Assembly, but ultimately fell short of the majority mark.
The BJP and the JJP should tell people whether they will fight the next assembly polls together, the former chief minister said.
Alleging that there has been a "big scam" in purchase of paddy in the state, Hooda reiterated his demand for a CBI probe into this.
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"Officials have been asked to check stocks, but the agriculture minister says everything is fine and there is no scam. Is the government trying to cover up things? We have also been saying there is a scam in mining and we demand a CBI probe into this as well," the Congress leader said.
To a question, Hooda indicated that there had been "some lapses" by his party in ticket distribution for the Haryana assembly polls, but did not specify how many seats it have cost the Congress. He also said that there was a delay in making changes in the state unit of the party, which was effected barely weeks before the assembly polls.
"The changes were effected when very less time was left for the polls," he said.
The Congress named Kumari Selja the chief of its Haryana unit and Hooda chairperson of the election management committee and party's CLP leader on September 4.
On law-and-order, Hooda alleged, "Haryana now tops the country in crimes against women." He also claimed that Haryana has the highest unemployment rate in the country.
To another question, Hooda said the Centre should restore the SPG protection to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, her son Rahul and daughter Priyanka.
"They come from a family which made sacrifices for the sake of this nation. Their security cover should not be diluted," he said.
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