The Haryana Congress has accused the newly formed Bharatiya Janata Party and Jannayak Janta Party government in the State of neglecting the Ahirwal belt across Gurugram, Rewari and Mahendergarh districts in the recent Cabinet expansion.
Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee spokesperson Vedprakash Vidhrohi, in a press statement, said on Friday that the Ahirwal region had got the weakest representation in the Council of Ministers in the present government in the 53-year-old history of the State. He said the participation of the Ahirwal region, dominated by the Yadavs, in the Cabinet appeared for namesake only with two Ministers allocated insignificant portfolios.
Ten Ministers, including eight from the BJP and one from the JJP, were inducted into the Council of Ministers on Thursday. Bawal MLA Banwari Lal and Narnaul MLA Om Prakash Yadav, both from the BJP, are the only two legislators inducted into the Cabinet from the Ahirwal region.
Mr. Lal is a Cabinet-rank Minister for Cooperatives, while Mr. Yadav is Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment with independent charge.
In the outgoing Vidhan Sabha, the region was represented by Badshahpur MLA and PWD Minister Rao Narbir Singh, Mahendgarh MLA and Education Minister Rambilas Sharma and Mr. Lal, who was Minister of State for Public Health with independent charge. While Mr. Singh was denied ticket by the party, Mr. Sharma lost the election.
Mr. Vidhrohi said that three Ministers representing the Ahirwal region in the previous government had important portfolios.
BJP infighting blamed
Blaming the diminishing political stature of the region on the infighting in the BJP, Mr. Vidhrohi said political leaders in Ahirwal belt had harmed the interests of the area in their fight for political one-upmanship. Gurugram BJP MP and Union Minister Rao Inderjit Singh is a prominent Ahirwal leader in the region.
He added that the poor representation of the region in the Cabinet underscored the priorities of the present government that too when the BJP had bagged eight out of the eleven seats in the three districts.
