By IANS,
Hisar (Haryana) : Hitting out against the anti-Congress campaign launched in the Hisar Lok Sabha constituency by Team Anna, the Congress Monday asked them to identify those they counted as corrupt.
“Some people were asking not to vote for the Congress. They should tell in whose favour people should cast their votes. If the issue is corruption, then people should not cast their vote in favour of corrupt people. Corruption could not be eradicated by supporting corrupt leaders,” Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda told a public rally here Monday.
Congress candidate from the Hisar constituency and three-time former MP Jai Prakash said: “I request (Arvind) Kejriwal to bring Ajay (Chautala) and Kuldeep (Bishnoi) to one stage with me. Either you identify the corrupt or quit campaigning against Congress.”
“Anna cannot give you water or electricity. If you vote for the Congress, you will see more development as the Congress has the government in Haryana and in the centre,” he said.
Hooda said that corruption could not be eliminated by supporting corrupt politicians. People would get rid of corruption only by sidelining them politically, he noted.
Union Culture and Housing Minister Selja, who is an MP from Ambala in Haryana, said the civil society members are agents of opposition parties, which were trying to grind their own axe in the guise of campaign against corruption.
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said it is ridiculous that the BJP is now raising the issue of corruption when new stories of corruption are being written in BJP-ruled states like Gujarat, Chhatisgarh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Karnataka.
Rajathan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot also addressed the rally.
The contest for this seat is tough for the three main players — Kuldeep Bishnoi of the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC), who is son of the late Bhajan Lal; Indian National Lok Dal’s (INLD’s) Ajay Chautala, who is son of former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala; and three-time former MP Jai Prakash of the Congress. Bishnoi has the support of the BJP for this election.
The seat fell vacant June this year following the death of Bhajan Lal, a three-time chief minister of Haryana infamous for engineering political defection, who had won the seat in May 2009 parliamentary polls.
The by-election to the Hisar seat takes place Oct 13 and the result will be out Oct 17.