Gurugram: Infighting in the Haryana Congress has resurfaced yet again as senior leader Kiran Choudhry described the non-confidence motion moved by Leader of Opposition (LoP) Bhupinder Singh Hooda an exercise that would help “BJP-JJP government blow its trumpet”.
Choudhry, however, was present when the motion was debated Thursday in the House.
“She was present in the House and also put her signature on the motion,” confirmed Rohtak MLA and Congress chief whip Bharat Bhushan Batra. Both the ruling alliance as well as the Congress had issued a whip to their members regarding the no-confidence motion.
At a Congress Legislative Party (CLP) meeting in Chandigarh on 7 February, Hooda had announced to move the no-confidence motion alleging that the Manohar Lal Khattar government had failed on several fronts, be it economic or administrative, or law and order.
Of the total 30 Congress MLAs, the four who did not feature among the signatories were Choudhry (Tosham), Kuldeep Vats (Badli), Shalley (Naraingarh), and Mohammad Ilyas (Punhana). Later, Batra confirmed that Choudhry had signed the motion.
The office of Speaker Gian Chand Gupta mentioned that a notice for the non-confidence motion was received 8 February.
Earlier, Choudhry had said that any no-confidence against the Khattar government could succeed only if the Congress had the support of at least 46 members.
“Unless we have the numbers, the motion is set to fall. It will only give an opportunity to the BJP-JJP government to blow its trumpet by showcasing its so-called achievements, though it has nothing worth mentioning. What I said to the media Tuesday was that there was no point in providing the government with an opportunity to highlight its false achievements,” she told ThePrint Wednesday.
In the 90-member Haryana Assembly, the BJP has 41 MLAs while its ally the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) got 10. Of the 7 Independent MLAs, 6 support the ruling alliance. The BJP-JJP government also enjoys the support of Gopal Kanda of the Haryana Lokhit Party. The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) has one member, Abhay Singh Chautala.
Hooda couldn’t be reached for his comments on Choudhry’s remarks.
Her statement comes at a time when the faction-ridden Haryana unit is aspiring to wrest power after remaining in the opposition for 10 years. In January, the Hooda faction and the trio of Kumari Selja, Randeep Surjewala and Choudhry had launched two separate campaigns in Haryana. Before this, Selja had in October last year taken a dig at Hooda’s announcement of having four deputy CMs if the party comes to power in 2024.
At the CLP meeting, Hooda said that all sections of the society were unhappy with the BJP-JJP government. “Under this present government, Haryana has witnessed several scams in the cooperative and mining departments, in Ayushman Bharat, and farmers producers’ organisations (FPO).”
“Through this no-confidence motion, the Congress will also seek answers will also be sought from the government on issues, like rising unemployment, irregularities in Haryana Kaushal Rozgar Nigam, outsiders getting more jobs than locals, recruitment scams and Agnipath Scheme,” Hooda told the media after the meeting.
He said that the Congress would also raise issues like increasing drug abuse, stoppage of scholarship for SC-BC children, schemes for SCs, falling level of education, condition of farmers, damage caused by inclement weather, compensation for damage caused by flood, irregularities family identity card, bad condition of roads and minority issues.
The BJP-JJP government has pushed the state into anarchy with a complete collapse of the law and order, Hooda added.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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