Rohtak angry with Hoodas over violence, expect Jats to support BJP: Haryana CM

CHANDIGARH: Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar is confident of the Jats supporting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming parliamentary elections.


The BJP leader, in an interaction with media on Wednesday, said the residents of Rohtak were angry with former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his three-time MP son, Deepender, for the violence which eruped in the city during the Jat community’s protest for reservation in February 2016. “They (have) always indulged in divisive politics of caste and community. Be it Jats or non-Jats, all have faith in the BJP and its government now. As far as the Parkash Singh Committee is concerned, its report made remarks on the system, and officials and their habits. Now, the system has changed: we are trying to get a new force in place,” he said, when asked to reply to allegations by the Congress and Hooda that the committee indicted the Haryana government.

Referring to the government’s decision on quota for Jats,

Khattar

said his government had always supported the community’s reservation-related demands. “For the time they don’t get quota, they have been covered under the 10% quota of general category. We fail to understand why people resort to agitations when the government has agreed to their demands,” he said.

Khattar justified his government’s decision to amend the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA), during its budget session in February this year. “PLPA was created in 1900 and could be suitable to those conditions. Today, 13 districts of Haryana are covered under this law and sevral private and government buildings have come up in its violation. We too strongly advocate the preservation of forests and green belts for ecological balance,’’ said Khattar. “We have examples in National Capital Region (NCR) and other districts where even central government’s buildings have come up in violation of PLPA. Anyhow, as and when required, we will put our point across before the honorable court,’’ said Khattar.

Khattar defended his government on allegations of illegal mining. He acknowledged the possibility of some of his collaegues being involved in the business, but before assuming office in the state governement. He, however, trashed claims of a mafia dominating the mining business in Haryana. “We are the ones who have been able to break the backbone of this mafia. We divided major plots into small plots, so that there are atleast eight to 10 (mining) plots in one zone. Unlike previous years, our revenue through mining activities has increased manifold,’’ said Khattar. “States having mining activities will always be faced by allegations of illegal mining. You can plug loopholes, but should not close mining as this will stop development activities and will have adverse impact on construction business,” he added.

Notably, the Haryana government has been under fire over the issue of illegal mining. Ex-CM Bhupinder Hooda had even accused the CMO, under Khattar, of patronising the mafia.

‘Corruption, Hooda’s cases likely poll issues’

CM Manohar Lal Khattar indirectly took a dig at ex-CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda over cases of corruption. Referring to the Dhingra Commission, which probed land deals which tok place when the Congress was in power in the state, Khattar said his government’s purpose was to expose Hooda and his team’s “corrupt practices” . “If they were clean enough, they should have allowed us to make the report public. Their opposition to the commission on technical grounds says it all. The public is quite aware of it. Otherwise, the Supreme Court has already directed the agency to probe the same issues which were raised in Dhingra Commission,’’ said Khattar.