Haryana CM stuck for hours, faces public anger in Mahendragarh during Jan Samvad Yatra

All is not well with the ongoing grievance redress program in the place of Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar called Jan Samvad (public connection). Khattar, who is in Delhi on Saturday to attend the eighth meeting of the NITI Aayog Governing Council, is reportedly facing anger from the public in Mahendragarh district over the announcement of a sub-tehsil a day earlier. .

When the villagers of Dogda Ahir heard about the announcement of a new sub-tehsil, which they said was announced by the Chief Minister in a smaller village, they were outraged. They said that their village was larger than Sihama village and that ideally a sub-tehsil should also be established in their village.

The protesters staged a sit-in in front of the official accommodation where the Chief Minister spent the night. According to media reports, Khattar was trapped in the same house for almost four hours, while there were continuous slogans against him.

In the morning, the Chief Minister called the protesters for talks and convinced them to withdraw the protest with the promise of making a feasibility report to establish the sub-tehsil in their area as well.

Ahead of the 2024 parliamentary and assembly elections in Haryana, the BJP has intensified its election preparations in a bid to repeat its rule in the state for a third time and win the largest number of seats for the Lok Sabha.

Khattar, who is facing the fight against incumbency in the state, believes that Jan Samvad is a platform where people talk about the difference between the Congress regime and the current rule.

Earlier, in Sirsa district, the yatra was interrupted on May 15 when a Sarpanch woman confronted the Chief Minister, removed her dupatta (stole) and threw it at her feet.

Within a week, three such incidents involving the Chief Minister were reported at Sirsa as he wrapped up his Jan Samvad program on 16 May.

CM Khattar, who seems to rely heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s charisma, says the state is tailoring various schemes emulated by the Center for each sector of society.

He says that people are taking advantage of state schemes like Parivar Pehchan Patra, CHIRAYU Haryana, Ayushman Bharat Yojana, Old-Age Pension, Mera Pani Meri Virasat and Meri Fasal Mera Byora.

He believes that in the past eight and a half years the government has brought many radical changes in the system along with comprehensive development of the state.

Addressing Jan Samvad at Nangal Sirohi village in Mahendragarh district on Friday, the Chief Minister announced that in the next four months, the government plans to fill 65,000 vacancies in Groups C and D.

Political observers believe that, just like the Congress which faced double opposition in the 2014 state polls, it is the BJP this time facing similar dissatisfaction among the people over corruption, law and order and the unemployment.

(With IANS tickets)