The Haryana Assembly Thursday witnessed sharp exchanges between opposition INLD and the ruling BJP after Leader of Opposition Abhay Singh Chautala accused the latter of making the governor read out the party's achievements in the House.
Addressing the state assembly on the opening day of the budget session here Wednesday, Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya had praised the government's commitment to "Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas" and "Haryana Ek, Haryanvi Ek", saying results of the recent mayoral elections and five municipal council polls were a "solid vindication" of that.
The BJP had swept the municipal polls in Hisar, Karnal, Panipat, Rohtak and Yamunanagar as well as the by-election in Jind.
Taking strong objections to the governor's address, Chautala Thursday asked the government to clarify "if the governor was made to read out the government's agenda or the BJP's".
The leader of opposition also pointed out that the governor concluded his speech in just a few minutes after reading out only a portion of the 44-page document, while telling the House that rest of it be treated as read.
Responding to the allegation, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar asserted that the governor had spoken about the government's policies and its developmental agenda.
"It is the prerogative of the governor whether he reads out one para or half a page. Moreover, this is not something new, there are so many examples from other states too, where governors after reading out a portion of the speech, say that the remaining part of it be treated as read," he said.
"Whatever the governor said during the course of his speech about the government and its policies, he spoke about people of Haryana," Khatter added.
Rebutting Chautala's charge, the chief minister further said, "'Haryana Ek, Haryanvi Ek' is our government's policy. The governor spoke about prosperity for all. The speech did not talk about prosperity of a BJP worker, but that of the entire society, entire state.."
Chautala remained dissatisfied, and while pointing towards the CM, said that the governor was made to boast about the BJP's achievements in the mayoral and the Jind bypolls, adding that it was "not appropriate".
There were sharp exchanges between the INLD members who backed Abhay, while the BJP members kept countering him.
Earlier, as BJP member Pawan Saini opened the debate on the governor's address, his 90-minute speech saw frequent interruptions.
The House also witnessed heated exchanges between the BJP and the Congress after the latter alleged that the AIIMS in Badsha, Jhajjar, would be shifted to Manethi, Rewari.
The government clarified that the AIIMS in Jhajjar was an extension of AIIMS Delhi, while an independent institute will come up at Rewari.
The AIIMS issue also witnessed heated exchanges between Agriculture Minister O P Dhankar and the Congress' Geeta Bhukkal.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)