The Bhupinder Singh Hooda government in Haryana suffered a jolt on Tuesday, when Power minister and six time MLA from Rewari, Capt Ajay Yadav resigned from the cabinet alleging regional bias in jobs and lopsided development, that he said was concentrated in only two favoured districts.
Speaking to The Hindu, Capt Yadav said that he has submitted his resignation to the chief minister and will await the response of the Congress high command before deciding his next course of action. His resignation comes even as there are reports that Birender Singh, another senior Congress leader and former MP is in talks with the BJP to join the party.
Mr Yadav said that he had been contemplating this move for the last two years but the party high command had dissuaded him and promised to redress his grievances. “My prestige has not been restored despite Ahmed Patel ji having promised me that within three months I will be given back the departments of Finance and Irrigation that were taken away from me two years ago.” “I have been given the Power ministry which is run by bureaucrats and I am a mere rubber stamp here”, he said.
Mr Yadav is among a dissident group of ministers and senior Congress leaders in Haryana who are opposed to chief minister Mr Hooda and have been criticising his development claims, on the ground that most development projects are concentrated in the chief minister’s own assembly constituency and that of his son’s former Lok sabha constituency comprising the districts of Rohtak and Jhajjar. His resignation comes just months before the state is due to go to polls in October or September. He said that he had informed the AK Antony panel that went into the reasons for the party’s poor performance in the Lok sabha elections where the Congress won only one out of ten seats, that over centralisation of power in the chief minister and flawed development is the reason for the unpopularity of the government.
Mr Yadav maintained that he is not leaving the Congress party for now and will await directions from the party high command.
Lashing out at the chief minister Mr Yadav said that the recent recruitments of some 1000 patwaris was “totally one sided and only 13 were given jobs from my constituency. He made a false promise of setting up a medical college in PPP mode in my area, but that has also not come through so far.” The dissident leader also alleged that there are largescale irregularities in appointments to universities and the State Information commission. “ Mr Hooda is treating the government like his own property.”
