Ruckus prevailed in the Haryana Assembly on Monday after senior Congress leader Raghuvir Singh Kadian made a mention of the RSS to take a swipe at the BJP-led government in the state alleging that it was the Sangh which was pulling the strings.
Kadian was participating in the general discussion on the budget estimates for the year 2020-21, which were presented by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who also holds the Finance department, in the assembly on Friday.
The Congress legislator from Beri attacked the state government on mounting debt, pointing out that it had risen to Rs 1.98 lakh crore from nearly Rs 71,000 crore five years ago and appeared dissatisfied by Khattar's explanation that part of it was to absorb the debt liability accumulated by the state's power utilities over more than a decade.
He said revenue and fiscal deficit was increasing.
Kadian then made a remark on the BJP-led coalition government in the state, alleging that it was the RSS which was pulling the strings.
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As soon as he said this, the BJP members launched an attack on him, with Education minister Kanwar Pal telling the opposition legislators that it was the RSS which teaches how to treat all as equals.
As Pal kept speaking, his voice was lost in the din as opposition members were indulged in a verbal duel with BJP benches.
Kadian again took a dig at the BJP, saying the chief minister had taken out a "Rath Yatra" before the October 2019 as the saffron outfit had set a target of winning more than 75 seats in the 90 member House, but ended up getting just 40.
The Bharatiya Janata Party formed the government in Haryana with the support of the Jannayak Janta Party, which won 10 seats. Six Independents are also supporting the coalition government.
Again, the two sides indulged in a verbal duel and someone from the opposition members made a mention of Delhi's Shaheen Bagh area, triggering heated exchanges between the two sides.
"Country is moving towards controlled dictatorship and the common man is feeling terrifi
ed in this atmosphere," Kadian said without elaborating as the Speaker interrupted him asking the Congress MLA to restrict himself to speaking on the budget.
Speaker Gian Chand Gupta had to repeatedly tell the members to maintain the decorum of the House and not stand up frequently and interrupt the proceedings.
Earlier, Kadian said the state government is borrowing more to service the old debt.
"Even if the government's reasoning is accepted for a moment that after absorbing the debt liability of over Rs 27,000 crore of power utilities, still Rs 1 lakh crore debt is huge over five year period of their rule.
"What we are asking is that where has the money gone because no new major project, no new railway line or metro line, no new university or hospital or any major development work has been done during the past five years," he said.
Taking part in the budget discussion, Congress legislator from Rohtak, B B Batra alleged a scam in allotment of land for multi-level parking in his assembly constituency.
As former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who is the Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, demanded that the chief minister should order a probe into it, the CM agreed to have the matter investigated.
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