BJP slogans losing steam, public making it aware of ground reality: Hooda

Chandigarh, Jun 5 (PTI) Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda said Wednesday the BJP's slogans are losing steam and the public is making the party aware of the ground reality.

The former chief minister also accused the BJP of resorting to divisive tactics based on caste and religion. The BJP has no issue and only wants to make people "fight on the basis of caste and religion", he alleged.

Hooda said people in the country have shown the mirror to the BJP after it had claimed that the NDA will win 400 seats in the Lok Sabha elections.

Electoral success is achieved through hard work rather than mere slogans, he added.

"The BJP's slogans are losing steam, and the public is making them aware of the ground reality," the Congress leader said in Rohtak.

In the last Lok Sabha election in 2019, the BJP won all 10 seats in Haryana. This time, however, the Congress wrested five of them. The Congress also gained in vote share, which went up from 28.42 per cent in 2019 to 43.67 per cent.

Referring to the three Independent MLAs withdrawing support to the Nayab Singh Saini government last month, Hooda reiterated that the governor should dismiss the "minority" BJP government in the state and elections should be held at the earliest.

The Congress leader also commended the people of Haryana for "not falling prey to BJP's deceptive strategies".

Pointing at the significant improvement in the Congress' electoral performance, Hooda said that the INDIA bloc secured a combined vote share of 47.61 per cent in Haryana.

"There has been a remarkable increase in Congress' vote share from 28 per cent in 2019 to almost 48 per cent (Congress and AAP), while the BJP saw a decline in its vote share from 58 per cent (in 2019) to 46.11 per cent.

"This shift also indicates a strong anti-incumbency wave in Haryana," Hooda said, predicting a Congress victory in the assembly elections in the state which are due in October.

Hitting out at the BJP government in the state, Hooda said when the Congress was in power, Haryana was leading in per capita income, investment, employment generation, and development.

But now, the state tops the charts in unemployment, crime, corruption and drug menace, he said.

Hooda also accused the BJP government of failing to establish any significant infrastructure or projects in Haryana over the past decade. PTI SUN IJT