Haryana Cong launches protest march to Vidhan Sabha, targets BJP govt over IDFC scam, bad governance

The Haryana Congress on Tuesday took out a protest march to the Vidhan Sabha, targeting the BJP government over issues including law and order, unemployment, corruption and farmers’ concerns.

Protesting Congress MLAs, led by Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda, carried placards highlighting various issues, with some holding ‘jhunjhunas’ (toy) “to wake up the government from its slumber”.

The legislators gathered near a roundabout before marching nearly 1 km towards the Vidhan Sabha complex, where they staged a brief sit-in.

Haryana Congress chief Rao Narender Singh, who joined the march, demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the IDFC First Bank fraud case.

On 23 February, IDFC First Bank reported a Rs 590 crore fraud allegedly committed by its employees and others in accounts linked to the Haryana government.

“While the state government has said the Anti-Corruption Bureau will investigate the matter, we demand a CBI probe,” Singh said.

Hooda claimed that although the state finance department has directed departments and public sector enterprises to conduct internal audits of their bank accounts and fixed deposits, the alleged fraud should have been detected much earlier.

He also criticised the BJP over the law and order situation, alleging that criminals were operating freely and people felt unsafe. “The Congress has hit the streets to raise the burning issues concerning the state, and wake up the government from its slumber.

“There are so many issues – law and order, corruption, drugs, unemployment, candidates from outside securing government jobs, paddy scam, farmers’ issues, cut in old-age pension, etc.,” Hooda said.

“The BJP has been in power for 11 years, yet it blames the Congress for everything. I want to tell them that during the Congress rule, Haryana was at the top in terms of per capita income and per capita investment. Once No. 1 in all spheres, Haryana has fallen way behind under the BJP,” he alleged.

There was no immediate response from the BJP to the allegations made by the Congress leaders.

With PTI inputs