Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal, addressing a rally at election-bound Baroda Assembly segment in Sonipat, on Thursday said he would quit politics if the Minimum Support Price scheme ever ended, adding that Congress had a habit of misleading people by telling lies. He also accused the grand old party of being “status-quoist” and averse to bringing changes.
In his first election rally for the Baroda bypoll, Mr. Lal, addressing a gathering at Kathura village, assured farmers that the MSP scheme would continue to stay and never end. “If the MSP scheme ever ends, I will quit politics,” announced Mr. Lal, in an election being fought in the backdrop of large-scale protests in the State over farm legislations and Baroda being predominantly a rural segment.
Allaying the fears of the farmers, Mr. Lal said the mandis would stay. He said the farmers earlier had only one shop to sell their produce, but now they have two. “They can sell at the government shop (the mandis ) or the private shop (outside the mandis ),” said Mr. Lal, attacking Congress for misleading people by spreading lies on mandis and the MSP scheme.
He said Congress was in habit of telling lies and the party tried to spread misinformation on amendments to Article 370 and enactment of Citizenship Amendment Act as well.
Enlisting the initiatives taken by his government, including providing government jobs on merit, Mr. Lal said his party in Haryana was working to change the system, but Congress was “status-quoist” and was pained at bringing changes.
Hinting at factionalism at Congress, Mr. Lal said members from both Bharatiya Janata Party and the Jannayak Janta Party were present in the rally, but in Congress only the father-son duo (former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his Rajya Sabha MP son Deepender Hooda) were canvassing. He said the Congress had fielded a “dummy candidate” and no one knew him before he was made the party’s nominee.
Baroda being a Jat-dominant Assembly seat, Mr. Lal, subtly addressing the concerns of voting along caste lines, alluded how his party candidate Yogeshwar Dutt, a Brahmin, trained a Jhajjar-based Jat wrestler Bajrang Punia to bring home the point that his party did not believe in caste.
