The absence of BJP MP and Union Minister of State Rao Inderjit Singh as well as local MLAs of the ruling party from the ‘Khet Bachao’ programme organised at Bawal recently has sparked a controversy.
The event was attended by Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini and Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, but BJP MP and MLAs remained conspicuous by their absence.
The district unit of the BJP has reportedly issued show-cause notices to the local mandal heads who skipped the programme, though no action has been reported against the MP, MLAs and other senior leaders of the party.
Meanwhile, Rewari BJP in-charge Naseem Ahmed has denied knowledge about the issuance of notices to the local unit heads either.
“The issuance of show-cause notices to BJP mandal presidents is not in my knowledge. As far as I know, no action has been taken by the state organisation of the party in this regard,” Ahmed said on being questioned regarding the matter.
Meanwhile, the Congress has also raked up the issue, maintaining that the factionalism in the ruling party has hampered the development of South Haryana.
In a statement issued here, veteran Congress leader and former Haryana minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav has stated that the absence of Union Minister and Gurugram MP Rao Inderjit Singh from the “Khet Bachao” programme held in Bawal Assembly constituency despite the presence of Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini and Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Shivraj Singh Chouhan has exposed the deep factionalism within the BJP.
“This is not merely an internal matter of the BJP, but a serious issue affecting the interests of the people of South Haryana,” he maintained.
Capt Yadav pointed out that the visit of the Chief Minister and Union Agriculture Minister was a golden opportunity to seek major development projects and solutions for farmers’ issues of South
Haryana.
“However, Rao Inderjit Singh himself stayed away from the programme, and the BJP MLAs from all three Assembly constituencies of Rewari district — Laxman Yadav (Rewari), Anil Rao (Kosli) and Dr Krishan Kumar (Bawal) — also remained absent. This clearly reflects that the BJP’s internal factionalism has now come into the open,” he stated.
The Congress leader further maintained that Rao Inderjit’s track record shows that he has failed to maintain cordial relations with successive Chief Ministers.
“During the Congress regimes, he had differences with former Chief Ministers Bhajan Lal and Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Under the BJP rule, he reportedly remained at odds with former Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, and now similar differences appear to have emerged with Chief
Minister Nayab Singh Saini,” he said, adding that the people of South Haryana are paying the price for personal egos and factional politics.
Capt Yadav lamented that several important development projects in South Haryana remain incomplete and require urgent attention.
“In the presence of the Chief Minister and the Union Minister, these issues could have been presented emphatically, but the absence of the region’s representatives resulted in the loss of a significant opportunity,” he said.
The former leader urged the BJP leadership to take serious note of the absence of senior leaders from such an important government programme and the open display of factionalism within the party.
