Butana village (Sonepat), : Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda exuded confidence of doing a re-run of 2009 Lok Sabha election results in Haryana when Congress had bagged nine out of 10 seats in the state.
A four-time MP from Rohtak, Mr Hooda is now contesting Lok Sabha election from Sonepat and is hopeful of making it to Parliament once again. ‘We are making all out efforts for the Congress to wrest power from BJP in the current Lok Sabha polls,’ Mr Hooda told UNI during his poll campaign here.
Assembly elections in Haryana are also due in October and an impressive performance in the Lok Sabha polls would also bolster chances of the party to snatch power from the BJP in the state. And, it is here that Mr Hooda’s aspiration to lead Haryana once again as Chief Minister becomes evident. “I am visiting most of the rural areas and holding 30 to 40 meetings daily and have full support of voters cutting across caste combinations,’ he said.
‘Mujhe Sabhi 36 biradarion ka saath mil raha hai aur mai confident hoon ki is baar pura Haryana Congress ke saath hai’, ( I am getting support of all 36 communities and this time people of Haryana are firmly with the Congress), he told UNI.
During his roadshow, one of his close aides introduced him as the next chief minister of Haryana. “Ye Bhupinder Singh Hooda aapke dwar par nahi aayen hai balki agali Haryana Sarkar ke Chief Minister aayen hain” (This is not Bhupinder Singh Hooda at your doorstep. This is the next Haryana and its Chief Minister).
He was referring to 2005 when Mr Hooda was appointed Chief Minister after winning Rohtak Lok Sabha seat in 2004. Talking about the agenda for Haryana, Mr Hooda said that Congress has already announced to raise the old age pensions to Rs 3,000 per month and the elderly would no longer need to queue up in banks and pensions would be delivered at their doorsteps.
He said the Congress would also ensure that the farmers are debt free again and unemployed youth are either given jobs or an unemployment allowance.He further said the Congress has promised to provide an annual income support of Rs 72,000 to five crore poor families under the Nyuntam Aay Yojana (NYAY) scheme. He also added that the Congress wants a job explosion by making it easier for the youth to become entrepreneurs as they would not need any permissions for the first three years of their operation.
Mr Hooda also said that under BJP rule, people having higher qualification are forced to join in the lower grade jobs which is frustrating the youth and creating resentment among less educated people whose job opportunities are taken up by more educated people. Sonepat would go to the polls in the sixth phase of the ongoing General Election on May 12.
The BJP has fielded its sitting MP Ramesh Chandra Kaushik who won last election by over 77,000 votes in 2014. The candidature of Digvijay Chautala of Jannayak Janata Party has made it a triangular contest in Sonepat. Digvijay is grandson of Om Prakash Chautala who is languishing in jail after his conviction in primary teachers recruitment scam.
Unemployment, erratic power supply and water, both for drinking and irrigation, have become problems of the areas. The gap between Jat and non-Jat community has widened after the Jat agitation in 2016 which devastated the social harmony in the region especially in Rohtak.
A girl, who is pursuing Master’s degree, said that the erratic power supply is a big problem here which hampers not only studies but daily household affairs also. There is acute shortage of drinking water also, she added.
Rohtak, Sonepat, Jhajhar and a large part of Jind form part of Deshwal region which is dominated by Jats. In Sonepat alone, Jat voters are around 5.50 lakh. “The present Government has shattered the social fabric of the society and the gap between 36 ‘Biradari’ (community) has widened due to ruling party’s policies. Now, it is has become Jat versus other 35 biradaris which consists of Brahmins, Banias, Dalit and other backward castes”, a local farmer of Khandrai village Kuldeep Sehrawat said.
Despite a clear divide between Jat and non-Jat community, Bhupinder Hooda will get 20 to 30 per cent votes from all community in 35 Biradari, a local teacher in Barota village said. Some villagers also claimed that during his tenure as Chief minister, Mr Hooda had ignored the development of Sonepat and only focused on his home constituency.
(UNI)
