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He said the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government was marked by corruption and also hit out at the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) regime led by Om Prakash Chautala, without taking his name.
Shah said, ”Remember Haryana eight years before. When one government was formed, corruption used to be rampant and during another government’s time ‘goondaism’ (hooliganism) used to rise.
”But the Khattar government did not allow corruption and ended ‘goondaism’.” Addressing a Jan Utthan rally, Shah said the Khattar government had worked to change Haryana during its eight years and added that a long time after Independence, the state had got a chief minister who worked for its all-round development. ”Earlier, chief ministers either used to be of Sirsa or Rohtak, they were not of Haryana. But Khattar is the chief minister of the entire Haryana,” he said.
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Sharpening his attack on Hooda, Shah said ”When Hooda’s 3-D government was in power… One sees 3D film, but in the entire country, only Hooda showed a 3D government. ”In this, there were the ‘darbaris’ (courtiers), ‘damaad’ (referring to Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra) and ‘dealers’. Later, a BJP government which undertook development was formed in its place.” The Home minister also praised Khattar for being a ”true gentleman” and said when the BJP won majority in the 2014 polls in Haryana, Shah, as BJP chief, asked Khattar to be the chief minister. Khattar, however, gave him a list of 15 names of leaders who could be the chief minister instead of him.
While the BJP achieved a simple majority on its own in Haryana for the first time in 2014, it fell short in 2019 and formed a government in alliance with the Jannayak Janta Party.
Earlier in the day, Shah laid the foundation stone of the Haryana Orbital Rail Corridor and inaugurated three other projects worth Rs 6,629 crore.
The Haryana Orbital Rail Corridor project will come up for an estimated cost of Rs 5,618 crore . Shah also inaugurated a rail coach refurbishment factory worth Rs 590 crore in Sonipat’s Barhi and India’s first longest elevated railway track in Rohtak, built at a cost of Rs 315.40 crore.
The Home minister also inaugurated the Haryana Police Housing Complex, Bhondsi, constructed at a cost of Rs 106 crore.
Khattar, Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala, Union Rail Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister of State for Power and Heavy Industries and Faridabad MP Krishan Pal Gurjar, and BJP’s state unit chief OP Dhankar were present at the event.