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Hooda woos Indri voters with development mantra

Bhupinder Singh Hooda

INDRI (KARNAL): Braving the heat and dust of a hot summer afternoon, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda talks passionately about his mantra of making Haryana the No.1 State in the country in the remaining two years of his regime.

Addressing a series of election meetings in this Haryana Assembly constituency which faces a by-election on May 22, he tells the attentive rural folk of Kheri Mansingh that he regards Indri as his own constituency and in fact the voters would be electing two MLAs -- one the official Congress nominee Bhim Sen Mehta and the other he himself!

Mr. Hooda tries to strike an emotive bond by telling that he belongs to Indri as he studied in a nearby school in Kunjpura.

While recounting the developmental and other initiatives taken by him during the last three years, Mr. Hooda asserts that he has always believed in equitable development of all constituencies including those held by opposition MLAs. However, he adds, the sitting Congress MLA Rakesh Kamboj neither cooperated with him nor sought any assistance for development of the Indri constituency.

Interestingly, the by-election has been necessitated after Mr. Kamboj was disqualified as MLA upon joining the Haryana Janhit Congress.

Addressing another well-attended rally at village Sangoya, Mr. Hooda openly accuses Mr. Kamboj, who is seeking re-election now on Haryana Janhit Congress ticket, for the “backwardness of the region and lack of even basic facilities”.

Wiping the sweat from his face, Mr. Hooda tells the rapt audience, consisting of women, village elders and other voters, that his regime had released a whopping Rs.95 crore for the development of the constituency. “The picture would have been different in case Mr. Kamboj had taken interest in the constituency,” he adds amid applause.

Mr. Hooda strikes another emotive chord by telling the voters, mostly consisting of Kambojs, Sainis, Brahmins, Punjabis and Jats, that Mr. Mehta, a former Minister, has been handpicked by Congress president Sonia Gandhi herself because of his clean image.

Mr. Hooda draws applause when he ridicules the claims of the opposition parties that they had undertaken massive development in the State during their rule. “They should come forward and give details of the development activities, if any, carried out by them for public welfare,” he says throwing a virtual challenge to the Haryana Janhit Congress and Indian National Lok Dal leaders.

He further asserts that the opposition rulers only “did works for their own selfish interests and not for the general public”.

Talking briefly to this correspondent on the stage, Mr. Hooda asserts that the Congress will sweep all the three by-elections on May 22 in Indri, Adampur and Gohana “as the people know the reality that it is only the Congress which works for the masses at the grassroots”.

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Hooda woos Indri voters with development mantra

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