Former Union Minister P. Chidambaram addresses during a press conference at Chandigarh Press Club, on Monday, September 16, 2024. | Photo Credit: PTI Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister P. Chidambaram on Monday hit out at the BJP government in Haryana, terming its tenure a “total failure” that has rendered the State’s economic indicators among the worst in the country.“Haryana is essentially an agricultural State as more than 70% of its population earns its livelihood from this sector. Due to the callous attitude of this government, farmers had to resort to agitations and come on the roads. The BJP regime has been a complete failure,” said Mr. Chidambaram, addressing a press conference in Chandigarh.The leader said the BJP government, instead of addressing farmer’s problems, unleashed repression and violence against them. “More than 250 FIRs were registered against farmers, some of these were for crimes they never committed. This amply proved that suppression of democratic rights is a character of the BJP and this anti-democratic attitude is the same as that of the Central government. Farmers will never get justice from the BJP and the best way to punish it is by throwing it out of power,” he said.Mr. Chidambaram blamed the BJP government for failing to address unemployment in the State during its decade-long tenure. “Haryana has the worst unemployment figures in the country. As per CMIE data, its unemployment rate is 37.4%. Even the government’s own labour survey report has given the figures of Haryana’s unemployment as 9% as against the national average of 4.1%. This proves that unemployment in Haryana is more than double of the national average. Haryana had 4.5 lakh regular government posts out of which 1.8 lakh are vacant,” he said.The former Minister said Haryana’s economy is in complete shambles. “It is caught in a debt trap as it is borrowing far more than its known sources of income. Haryana had a total debt of ₹71,000 crore in the year 2014-15 which has skyrocketed to ₹3.79 lakh crores in the current fiscal year, a whopping increase of 348%,” he saidResponding to questions of rift within the party, Mr. Chidambaram denied that the Haryana Congress was a divided house. “In every State there are a few leaders who consider themselves front-runners and there is nothing wrong with it as it encourages healthy competition,” he said. Asked if the Congress will announce a Chief Ministerial candidate, the leader said, “Congress usually doesn’t do that. The general process is that after elections, MLAs are asked about their preference and on the basis of that high command takes the final decision.” Published – September 16, 2024 08:52 pm IST