Full stop to development under BJP rule in Haryana, alleges Hooda; CM Saini hits back

Chandigarh, Mar 20 (PTI) Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Thursday alleged that there has been a "full stop" to development under the BJP rule in Haryana whereas debt, crime and corruption are increasing "non-stop".

Reacting to the allegations, Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini said the public has already put a "full stop" to the Congress in the recently held assembly and civic elections.

For the past over 10 years, both the country and the state have experienced rapid progress under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Saini said while speaking to reporters here at the end of day's proceedings of the assembly.

Hooda also claimed that the BJP government in the past 10 years has put the state under a debt of Rs 5,16,007 crore.

"From 1966 to 2014-15, the state had an internal debt of only Rs 70,000 crore, which today has jumped to Rs 3,52,819 crore," the former chief minister told reporters here this evening.

Earlier, he also took part in the discussion on the state budget for 2025-26 in the assembly, during which he expressed concern over the state's "mounting debt".

While Hooda was taking part in the budget discussion in the assembly, state minister Anil Vij told the Congress leader that he should tell whether the budget should be lowered in any sector.

At this, Hooda told the Chair, "If he (Vij) interrupts like this, we will not allow him to speak in the House".

At this, Vij said, "This is an undemocratic statement by Hooda. When Hooda was CM, the opposition had to struggle to speak each word in the assembly as we were not given time." "I am a duly elected MLA, people have given me the certificate to speak here," Vij said pointing towards Hooda.

Meanwhile, Hooda alleged that the BJP has worsened the economic condition of the state to such an extent that the government does not even have a budget for capital expenditure.

"The government has shown a total income of Rs 1,27,817 crore. Out of this, Rs 1,09,700 crore is spent on salary, pension and payment of loan and interest on these loans, 85.8 per cent of the amount is spent on this," he stated.

"The government has shown revenue expenditure as Rs 1,48,416 crore, which means that the state does not have enough income to bear its expenses. The government is dependent on loans for expenditure. Therefore, the government is going to increase internal debt by Rs 71,350 crore.

"This means that the BJP is going to borrow as much in just one year as all the previous governments had taken from 1966 to 2014 combined," the former CM claimed, while adding that a huge amount is going towards debt servicing.

He also attacked the government over its claim that the per capita income of the state has increased to Rs 3,53,182.

"Whereas the figures of the Parivar Pehchan Patra (family identity card) show that more than 70 per cent of the people in the state are living below the poverty line, which means their annual income is less than Rs 1,80,000," he said.

Hooda said the BJP promised to give an assistance of Rs 2,100 per month to every woman if voted to power after the 2024 assembly polls.

"Today there are about one crore women voters in the state. To give them Rs 2,100 every month, the government needs a budget of about Rs 2,100 crore per month, and a budget of about Rs 25,000 crore will be needed for the whole year. The government, however, has proposed only Rs 5,000 crore for this scheme in this budget," he said.

Hooda said Haryana's GSDP increased by 17.6 per cent annually from 2005-06 to 2014-15, whereas between 2014-15 to 2024-25, there has been an increase of only 10.6 per cent. PTI SUN KVK KVK

Source: PTI