Hooda Blames Govt Negligence for Haryana Floods, Calls for Relief Fund From Legislators

Chandigarh (The Uttam Hindu): Former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda launched a scathing attack on the state government, holding it responsible for the recent floods in the state. Hooda claimed that the floods were not a natural disaster but the result of the government’s negligence, as necessary precautionary steps were not taken on time.

Appealing for relief measures, Hooda urged legislators to contribute one month’s salary to the relief fund to support flood victims. He questioned why crop loss assessments for farmers (girdawari) could not be done through satellite when challans for stubble burning are issued the same way. He also raised concerns over alleged scams in the AMRUT scheme, highlighting that more than 6,000 villages are still waterlogged due to poor sewerage cleaning.

Targeting the government over BPL cards, Hooda accused it of playing vote-bank politics. He alleged that before elections, 5.2 million BPL cards were issued, declaring 80% of the population as BPL, but now many of those cards are being cancelled. Calling it a way of “stealing votes,” he criticized the ruling BJP for proxy politics, saying the party cannot win in a direct contest against Congress without deploying parties like JJP or INLD.

Commenting on national politics, Hooda cited examples from Delhi, where only 4 out of 27 AAP candidates won after Arvind Kejriwal changed tickets. On Punjab, he asserted that every citizen, including migrants, has the full right to live anywhere in India. On Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday, Hooda extended greetings but mocked the BJP’s “Seva Pakhwada” campaign, questioning why such celebrations started only 11 years later, right before elections.