IANS/Hisar/Kurukshetra, Haryana

Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday accused parties and leaders in Haryana of “corruption and looting the state over the years.”
He came down heavily on the state’s dynastic politics and urged people to vote the Bharatiya Janata party to power in the October 15 assembly elections.
Addressing election rallies in Hisar and Kurukshetra for the BJP, Modi launched a scathing attack on the past Congress and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) governments in the state and said Haryana had not seen a government in which political families looked beyond themselves and their family members.
“We want to make Haryana free from this ‘parivaar-vaad’ (dynastic politics). In the last 25 years, have you seen a government in Haryana which worked for the welfare of the people,” he asked.
“In Haryana, the government works only for the chief minister and his family. All political leaders have been running their shops in Haryana for themselves and their families,” Modi said.
“Only the voters of Haryana can save the state from being looted further. We have seen Haryana being looted. A new hope and trust has been built in these elections.”
Modi urged voters to bring the BJP to power with full majority so that the state could be rid of dynastic politics, nepotism and corruption.
The prime minister said corruption and land scams had become rampant in Haryana.
“All ministers in Haryana are playing the game of ‘kaun banega arabpati’ (Who wants to be a billionaire) on the lines of Amitabh Bachchan’s popular TV show Kaun Banega Crorepati.
“There is large scale corruption. In all governments in the past, contractors have had a free run,” Modi said.
In Kurukshetra, Modi said he was surprised that politicians in Haryana, the land of Lord Krishna, dared to tell lies over the years. “They cannot look beyond their self-interest,” he said.
Modi said the BJP was the only party where a tea vendor like him could become the prime minister.
Claiming that there was a wave in favour of the BJP in Haryana, he said: “I have not come here for a political rally. I have come here to congratulate you in advance for supporting the BJP.”
Ridiculing the Congress, the prime minister said: “The Congress should be ashamed. It has not given an account of its 60 years of sins while in the government. But they are questioning my government after just 60 days.”
He also warned voters in Haryana from being misled by leaders of the INLD.
“I do not need the support of people sitting in Tihar (jail). (INLD) leaders are trying to mislead voters by showing my past photographs with them,” Modi said.
Slamming INLD president Om Prakash Chautala for saying that he will take oath as chief minister from Tihar jail, Modi said: “I am shocked (that he is saying that).
“He does not even trust his own sons and is still seeking votes for himself. Someone who is in Tihar prison should say that he will come out and work for the welfare of people.”
Modi meanwhile urged the Election Commission to take “appropriate action” over the Haryana government’s approval of a controversial land deal between Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra and realty giant DLF.
The prime minister said it was for the election watchdog take cognizance and “appropriate action” in this matter since Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s government had violated the model code of conduct by granting the approval ahead of the elections.
“It looks as if the ‘danda’ (pressure) has come from the top. The Election Commission should take cognizance and appropriate action in this regard,” Modi said.
“This action shows that Hooda and the Congress have accepted defeat in the forthcoming polls and are trying to approve such matters.” The Rs580mn land deal between Vadra’s company and DLF was cancelled in October 2012 by Ashok Khemka, a senior IAS officer in Haryana.