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Haryana : Going towards a Mid-Term Poll ?
JAG MOHAN THAKEN FROM CHANDIGARH
Just after the revolt of JJP MLA Ram Kumar Gautam , another MLA supporting the BJP government Mr. Balraj Kundu also sounded a bugle within three months of formation of BJP-JJP alliance government . Will the chain of resentment continue to increase its length or the Controller –Generals of the alliance succeed in curbing the voice of indignation ? Before a final note , let us discuss the background .
Sometimes bad luck of one turns to good luck for the other. BJPs not gaining the majority win in October , 2019 Haryana Assembly elections bestowed a sunny glowing day upon Jannayak Janta Party (JJP ) in the murky political scenario . After winning all the 10 Lok Sabha seats in May ,2019 on the air wings of Modi , the over confident state BJP declared its target of 75 plus seats out of 90 in Haryana Vidhan Sabha , but failed to read the ground report . When election results were declared, the BJP which was flying high in the sky on the gas filled balloons, dashed to the ground and got only 40 seats out of total 90 . The main opposition party congress got 31 seats , the newly formed JJP caught 10 seats ,whereas the independents and others succeeded in getting 9 . With a clear motive of getting power by hook or crook and keeping in mind the popular saying “Better give the wool than the whole sheep”, the just ousted BJP caught the butterfly JJP hovering over the flower garden to suck the power pollen juice and made it the partner in the power game . BJP’s Manohar Lal Khattar once again got King’s crown and JJP in lieu of its King maker role got the Deputy CM post for its field supremo Dushyant Chautala.
It has been noticed in different elections , that in Haryana , the voters don’t take on top priority the development through “Sabka Saath –Sabka Vikas”, rather they want “Mera Saath –Mera Vikas”. It is generally quoted that had they liked the general or public development works , the former Chief Minister late Chaudhary Bansi Lal never had lost the elections .It is also noticed in the just held assembly elections , the former state finance minister , Captain Abhimanyu lost the race despite his multilevel development works in his Narnaund constituency .
Generally to get the elections and defections favourably the high side promises are made and if one sees the least chances to win then sometimes the political leaders bless everyone with a son . JJP did so and made 160 promises in its manifesto during elections, which require a huge fund to fulfill these . Some of these are high side promises which even not possible to implement due to the paucity of funds with the state and other restrictions . JJP knew this before- hand , but it promised these just to bend the voters towards it . JJP had not even thought of its getting the power share so soon. Now their own promises have put BJP-JJP alliance government in a dilemma . Both partners have made nearly 400 promises ,out of which 70 are common and are being considered for their common minimum programme .
JJP’s some major promises are– Increase in the monthly old age pension from the existing Rs 2,000 to 5,100, lowering down of eligibility age for the old age pension from present 60 years to 55 for women and 58 for males , to reserve 75 per cent of jobs for the local youth which constitute a sizeable chunk of nearly 1.83 crore voters of the state, to give a monthly assistance of Rs 11,000 per month to unemployed youth while student from rural areas to be given extra ten marks when they appear in competitive examinations in the state , for the farmers, a bonus of 10 per cent or Rs 100 to be given over MSP, minimum wages to be fixed at Rs 16,000 and to waive loans taken by farmers from the cooperative banks.
If we have a sight on loan to farmers , 823811 farmers are yet to repay the loans amounting Rs. 3748 crore as on 31 December , 2019 to the cooperative banks in the state even after the recovery .
Haryana Cooperation Minister, Dr. Banwari Lal , while announcing the last date of ‘One Time Settlement Scheme’ till January 31, 2020 for the loanee members and farmers, who have an account with cooperative banks to facilitate the members and farmers to take advantage of the scheme, told that the total amount of short term loan of Harco Bank is about Rs 3091 crore and there are about 6,99,804 beneficiaries, out of which Rs 1136.36 crore has been recovered from 2,51,481 beneficiaries till 31 December 2019. He also added that the total loan amount of District Central Co-operative Banks is about Rs 608 crores and there are about 31749 beneficiaries, out of which an amount of Rs 150.74 crores has been recovered from about 6925 beneficiaries till 31 December 2019. He further informed that the Land Mortgage Bank has a total of 92258 indebted beneficiaries and a total loan amount of Rs.1577.75 crores, out of which an amount of Rs.242.18 crores has been recovered from 9151 indebted beneficiaries till January 2, 2020.
Haryana Power and Jails minister Ranjit Singh divulged while addressing mediapersons during the first bijli panchayat in Hisar on Sunday Jan 05,2020, “According to the data of rural domestic consumers, the total pending amount is Rs.2,900 crore, of which Rs. 95 crore is of farmers using tubewells. We are meeting the panchayat members of villages that are on the defaulters’ list and will ask them how they will pay the amount.”
It is pertinent to mention here that the farmers had stopped the repayment of loans and electricity bills believing on the waivement promises of different political leaders . During this assembly election also , JJP and Congress both made the farmers’ loans and electricity bills as election issues .
During assembly election campaign , Congress leader and former chief minister of Haryana , Bhupender Singh Hooda had alleged that due to wrong policies of BJP government the Haryana had become debt ridden state . In a tweet on October 15,2019, Hooda alleged , “BJP government had emptied the state treasure and burdened the
State with a loan of Rs. 164076 Crore during BJP’s five year tenure from 2014 to 2019 , whereas during the 48 years regime from 1966 to 2014 the state availed of a debt of Rs.76263 Crore.”
To start with , the alliance government declared implementation of its first promise of enhancement of old age and widow pension from present Rs. 2000 per month to Rs. 2250 by giving an increase of just Rs. 250/ per month .
Now Chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday , January 03,2020 , announced increase in all monthly social security pensions, including the old age pension, from Rs. 2,000 to Rs.2,250.
Since 2015, the state government has extended an increase of Rs 200 in these pensions every year. The old age pension which was Rs.1,000 in 2014 was increased in the last five years at the rate of Rs.200 every year, giving a last slab of Rs. 2000 per month.
However , BJP’s power partner, JJP had promised an ambitious increase in the monthly old age pension from the existing Rs 2,000 to Rs.5,100 ,whereas the BJP had promised to increase the old age pension to Rs .3,000 per month during the assembly election campaign .
Reacting over the pension enhancement , the former Chief Minister , Bhupender Hooda said on January 6,2020 at Rohtak , “It is no achievement by the government as it has hiked only Rs.50 additionally .”
If we consider this increase of Rs. 250 per month as a routine yearly increase on the lines of previous yearly increases of Rs. 200 per year by BJP led government , then question arises , what the JJP did ? Did JJP succeed in getting an increase of Rs. 50 only as its share ? What about its promise of Rs. 5100 per month ?
Commenting on the increase , Congress leader and three times Member Lok sabha , Mr. Deepender Singh Hooda reacted on January,03,2020 , “The BJP-JJP alliance government has given a Lollypop to the public by just enhancing old age pension from Rs. 2000 to Rs. 2250 against a promise of Rs. 5100. The public will never forgive the alliance government for this betrayal. Is this the common minimum programme ?”
Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala took a dig at the BJP-JJP coalition government in Haryana and said their common minimum programme had become “common mess of parties”.
“Because neither any farm debt was waived nor old age pension of Rs 5,100 was given. Yes, the JJP did get 11 departments and the BJP managed to retain power. But what 2.50 crore population of Haryana got,” Surjewala asked.
Indian National lok Dal supreme operator and former leader of opposition in Haryana Assembly , Abhay Singh Chautala tells the pension increase as ‘A drop in ocean’ and questions JJP leaders , without naming them , “ Where are the persons, who were claiming to extend Rs. 5100 per month pension to the old age citizens ?”
But still the JJP appreciating the step . Speaking to the media in Bhiwani on January 4, 2020 , JJP supremo and Deputy CM Dushyant Chautala said , “We have increased the pension by Rs.250 just in a short span of 67 days , this will lay a burden of Rs. 1000 crore on the state exchequer .”
He claimed that during these 67 days the BJP-JJP alliance government has fulfilled four promises of JJP manifesto and three from BJP manifesto under common minimum programme .
After the first meeting of the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) Committee held in Chandigarh on November 28,2019 , CMP Committee chairperson and senior cabinet minister Anil Vij said that many promises of both the parties –BJP and JJP are similar and implementation of many has already been started.
Will the Alliance govt run for the full five year term ?
While at Rohtak on January 6 ,2020 , INLD supremo and former Chief Minister of Haryana , Om Prakash Chautala predicting the mid-term polls for the state said that BJP-JJP alliance government will fall on its own very soon . Exhorting the workers , Chautala said , “ I urge you all to get ready for mid-term polls for Haryana assembly , because many MLAs of the ruling alliance are not happy and they will topple the government any time.”
Supporting the INLD supremo’s prediction , Leader of Opposition in Haryana assembly and former CM Bhupender Hooda said on the same day , “If Chautala had stated so , he must have made this observation after having a proper analysis of the situation . No possibility can be ruled out in politics and everything is possible.”
Countering the mid-term poll predictions by opposition party leaders ,on the occasion of inauguration of a Cancer Unit in a private hospital on January 07 ,2020 at Panipat , Deputy CM and JJP leader Dushyant Chautala said , “BJP-JJP alliance government is running as a stable government and it will go on till its full five year tenure .”
Hitting on the congress party on the issue of old age pension increase , Dushyant said, “The Old age pension got an increase of just Rs. 700 in 10 years rule of congress in the state , whereas the BJP-JJP alliance government has given an enhancement of Rs. 250 in just 60 days .”
Three days before, Dushyant had also claimed that during these two months the BJP-JJP alliance government had fulfilled four promises of JJP manifesto and three from BJP manifesto under common minimum programme .
The political analysts calculate that it is the hard fact that the BJP will never compromise to fulfill the manifesto points promised by JJP. BJP think tank clearly knows that if JJP succeeds in getting its agenda implemented , it will be an action of digging its own grave for BJP . So , BJP will play its well tested ‘Use-Fuse and Refuse’ theory and downsize the alliance partner JJP with the slow poisoning process. It will neither let it to die nor will give it much strength to raise its graph. The present live example of victim of ‘Use-Fuse and Refuse’ theory is Mr. Lal Krishan Advani . A slight enhancement in old age pension , against a high pitch promise of Rs. 5100 of JJP , is an indication of downsizing the JJP . Now it is upto the JJP supremo Dushyant Chautala , whether he prefers to enjoy the sweet fruits of power for the limited period on the clemency of BJP or to stand up like his great grandfather late Chaudhary Devi Lal and reign over the state politics for a longer half century .
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