CBI action against Hooda unites divided Cong unit

Jind: CBI raids on properties owned by former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda turned into a binding factor for the otherwise faction-ridden Haryana Congress here on Friday. The warring camps of Hooda and Haryana Congress president Ashok Tanwar came together to attack the ruling BJP, during a a rally organised in support of Jind bypoll candidate Randeep Singh Surjewala.

Speaking at the rally titled ‘Jind Badlenge, Jindgi Badlenge’, party leaders Kiran Chaudhary, Deepender Singh Hooda, Captain Ajay Yadav, Tanwar, Kuldeep Bishnoi, Bhavya Bishnoi and former MP Naveen Jindal condemned the action against Hooda, and sought votes for Surjewala for the January 28 byelection.

Tanwar said if the BJP continued to raid the properties of Congress leaders, the party would have to take the streets in protest against the government. He went on to blame the BJP and the INLD for lack of development in Jind.

In a first for Jind, Tanwar promised an industrial model township for Jind if the Congress came to power in the state. He claimed that the BJP had been misusing the CBI.

Lashing out at the BJP over the CBI raid at his house, Hooda’s MP son, Deepender Singh Hooda, described the action as a “misadventure” by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). “PM Narendra Modi and chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar are misusing government machinery to trap us,” he said .

He said the BJP had been following them for the past five years, but it could find nothing against them. He challanged the BJP to try harder. “The Congress winning the bypoll from Jind will be the best answer to the CBI raids to BJP,” he added.

Congress legislature party leader Kiran Chaudhary, in her address, said the BJP only made promises, but never fulfilled them. “The state government looted farmers in the name of Fasal Bima Yojna. Inflation is still high, and is continuing to rise,” he added.