Rahul Gandhi to address Cong district unit presidents in Kurukshetra on Jan 21

Kurukshetra, Jan 18 (PTI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will be addressing the ongoing training camp for the party's district unit presidents from Haryana and Uttarakhand here on January 21.

Gandhi will be reaching here on January 21, senior party leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, told reporters here after addressing the district unit presidents from Haryana here on Sunday.

The Congress has launched a training camp for the party's district unit presidents from Haryana and Uttarakhand to strengthen its organisational structure in these states.

The camp organised here in Kurukshetra from January 13 to 22 is attended by 33 district presidents from Haryana and 27 from Uttarakhand.

Hooda told reporters that the BJP had promised to double farmers' income by 2022, but instead of increasing incomes, it has multiplied their costs.

The former chief minister of Haryana also accused the government of cheating women in the name of the Lado Lakshmi Yojana.

During elections, the BJP promised Rs 2,100 per month to all women, but now this benefit is being extended to only a limited number, Hooda claimed.

He pointed out that in 2024-25, around 2.13 crore people in Haryana fell under the below poverty line (BPL) category, meaning that nearly 85 lakh women should have been eligible for the scheme.

"However, the government is now talking about providing the benefit to only 8 lakh women," Hooda added.

"It is also being said that Rs 1,100 will be credited directly into the beneficiary's savings bank account, while the remaining Rs 1,000 will be deposited in a government-operated recurring deposit or fixed deposit account," he said.

Even this amount has been made conditional on factors, the Haryana leader of opposition said.

"Such conditions are being deliberately imposed to exclude the majority of women from the beneficiary list," he alleged.

Reacting to the new Act replacing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), Hooda said that the BJP government has attacked the rights of Dalits, backward classes, the poor, villagers, and panchayats.

Despite Haryana having more than eight lakh MGNREGA workers, during 2024-25, only 2,100 families were provided 100 days of work, he claimed.

The government neither ensured employment for labourers nor paid unemployment compensation, as mandated under the scheme, he said.

He further said that under the MGNREGA scheme introduced by the Congress government, the central government was responsible for releasing the entire budget.

However, the present arrangement has divided the budgetary responsibility between the Centre and the state in a manner that has created confusion and funding constraints, the Congress leader said.

Speaking on the law and order issue, Hooda said, with more than 80 criminal gangs being active in Haryana, the organised crime has now become part of daily life in the state.

Hooda also explained the key issues -- unemployment, organised crime, drug abuse, migration, neglect of farmers, and the continued neglect of the poor and SC-OBC communities -- that need to be taken to the people.

The former chief minister claimed that the BJP has neither fulfilled a single promise nor carried out any meaningful development in Haryana.

According to him, the present government is committed only to scams and weakening Haryana's interests.

"The BJP has handed over jobs meant for Haryana's youngsters to the outsiders," he said, adding that the government is systematically dismantling the institutions and infrastructure built by the Congress.

In 11 years, the BJP has not established a single new medical college, major industry, major university, railway line, metro line, IIT, nor has it attracted any significant investment.

"Despite this, the state's debt has risen sharply, Hooda alleged. PTI COR SUN SHS SHS