Hooda jeered in PM's presence, threatens boycott of Modi functions

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, jeered at a function here, Tuesday threatened he will not attend any function of the prime minister or union ministers if the Haryana BJP leadership did not change its attitude.

Hooda was continuously booed throughout his brief speech at a public function for the foundation stone-laying ceremony of a national highway connecting Haryana with Rajasthan in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The crowds shouted anti-Hooda and pro-Modi slogans during the event. They were shouting "Modi, Modi" even though it was an official function organised by the National Highways Authority of India.

Union ministers Nitin Gadkari (Road Transport and Highways), Rao Inderjit Singh (Planning) and Krishan Pal Gujjar (Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways) along with Haryana Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki were also present.

"The conduct of the BJP leaders and their supporters is deplorable. I kept the dignity of the post (of prime minister). If this attitude (of BJP leaders) continues, whenever the prime minister or his ministers come to lay foundation stones or for other functions, I will not go there," an upset Hooda told the media here after the event.

"The prime minister's post is an institution which is not of any party. The BJP today violated the sanctity of the institution. Our (Congress) prime ministers went to non-Congress states and the dignity of the post was kept. But here, in the presence of the prime minister, the dignity of the (chief minister's) post was violated," Hooda pointed out.

Haryana's 90 assembly seats go for elections by October this year and the political temperature is hotting up in the state, especially between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the ruling Congress.