People have started to question BJP's silence on issues like unemployment: Selja

Haryana Congress president Kumari Selja on Wednesday said that the people have started questioning the ruling BJP's silence on burning issues like unemployment and have made up their mind to show the door to the saffron party in the upcoming assembly polls.

Selja said contrary to the M L Khattar-led Bharatiya Janata Party government's claim of giving a clean and transparent administration, "the truth is that this regime has been hit by a number of scams".

When asked about BJP making scrapping of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir a big poll issue in the Haryana polls besides raising other issues surrounding nationalism, Selja said, "That is going to rebound because people have started to question their silence on critical issues like unemployment."

"People are asking why BJP is not talking about local issues, about the issues that are agitating people of Haryana. So people have started questioning that and these (BJP) people don't know how to retreat because there is nothing to show for themselves as far as the state of Haryana is concerned," Selja told reporters.

"People will show them the door in the upcoming polls," she said.

Haryana will go to polls on October 21 and the counting of votes will be held on October 24.

When asked about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's praise for the Khattar dispensation for providing a clean and transparent administration and giving jobs on merit during his address at the three poll rallies, she said,"The PM is perhaps not aware or he is turning a blind eye to what is actually happening in Haryana".

"This regime is steeped in corruption, look at the mining mafia, look at the drug mafia, look at the way competitive examination papers got leaked, look at the way scholarships meant for Scheduled Caste students were siphoned off, then there was cash-for-jobs scandal in the state.

"Ask any common citizen to go to any government office and you ask him what the reality is about corruption, he will tell you," she said.

"When we come to power we will definitely order an inquiry into all this in a time bound manner," she said.

On BJP claiming that it will win at least 75 of the 90 assembly seats, Selja said the saffron party can dream about any number, but that will never come true.

"Moreover, BJP gave the slogan of '75 Paar' earlier out of sheer bravado, but now they know they stand nowhere and they don't know how to retreat from this. But they have toned it down in the sense that they are



not talking about it as much," she said.

She said the Congress is considerably improving day by day.

"By the end of it (when polls are held) we will be able to form the government, I am quite sure," she said.

After Rahul Gandhi's recent visit, party chief Sonia Gandhi will be addressing a poll rally on October 18 in Mahendergarh to give a boost to the party's campaign.

She claimed that the BJP government has no achievement to its credit during the past five years.

"Ever since our campaign took off and then we brought out manifesto, when you compare it with what the BJP has been doing and their so called manifesto, you will see there is such a glaring difference. The Congress has shown commitment to every section of society in Haryana and the BJP has nothing to show for itself for their past five years work. I wouldn't say achievements, because there have been none," she said.

"In the past five years, they have not been able to show anything to any section of the society. And their promises ring hollow," she said.

Asked about BJP's criticism about the promise of "freebies" for various sections in Congress's manifesto, Selja said, "I want to ask them when they did nothing for anyone during the five years, how did the state debt more than double. It shows their gross mismanagement."

"They have indulged in wasteful expenditure, organising big events and wasting money on these. Look at their propaganda machinery, they are wasting public money for self propaganda, false propaganda, I might add," Selja said.

Selja claimed that various sections including farmers, employees, traders and youth are fed up with this regime.

"Look at the unemployment rate, which is over 28 per cent, but they are not talking about this," she said.

Selja criticised Khattar, who during a poll rally, had ridiculed Sonia Gandhi's return as Cong chief, saying 'khoda pahad niklee chuhiya'.

"Khattar has no control over what he says and reflects a typical mindset that has been displayed in his actions and in his words. It shows that he has scant respect whether it is for women or whether it is any civil behaviour in public life.

"Mr Khattar, it seems doesn't understand the culture of Haryana or any other culture, when he talks like this and exposes the cheap mindset, when he talks about women. His utterances will not ever affect the persona of Sonia Gandhi, but it does expose their cheap mindset," she said.