Balraj Kundu also wrote to Khattar apprising him of the alleged corruption and demanding a high-level probe.
INDEPENDENT MLA from Haryana’s Meham constituency Balraj Kundu on Thursday said he will withdraw support to the BJP-JJP government, calling the latter’s “display of honesty” a farce.
“I had extended my support to an honest government and Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar. Now, I have realised that their display of honesty is a farce. I will hand over a letter to the Assembly Speaker withdrawing my support tomorrow,” Kundu told media persons on Thursday during the ongoing Vidhan Sabha Budget session.
For the last few weeks, Kundu had been alleging that the state’s cooperative sugar mills had recorded a loss of Rs 3,300 crore and that it was all because of corruption and malpractices at the behest of a former BJP minister. He also wrote to Khattar apprising him of the alleged corruption and demanding a high-level probe.
Even in the Vidhan Sabha on Wednesday, Kundu had accused Rohtak Medical College’s Vice-Chancellor O P Kalra of indulging in “corrupt practices” and demanded stern action against him. The MLA had also alleged that the government had dumped the pending vigilance inquiry against Kalra and was not acting against him.
On Thursday too, while speaking in the Vidhan Sabha during a discussion on the Governor’s address, Kundu raised the issue of corruption in sugar mills that led to heated exchanges between him and Khattar.
Indirectly referring to Kundu’s allegations in the Vidhan Sabha, Khattar said, “An issue is being raised that a person who was engaged in the business of sugarcane molasses should not have been allotted (cooperation) portfolio. With this mathematics, the Sports Ministry can’t be given to a sportsperson and Agriculture Ministry can’t be allotted to a person who is associated with agriculture.”
Kundu interrupted and said, “…it’s a clean chit from your side on the matter?” At this, a visibly upset Khattar replied, “You may go to the court. There is a clean chit from my side.”
Speaker Gian Chand Gupta repeatedly asked Kundu not to interrupt Khattar while he was replying to several other issues raised by other members of the House. When the chief minister mentioned comparative rates of sugarcane molasses, Kundu again stood to speak. The chief minister then said that he had given his final statement on the matter. However, Kundu kept raising the issue, prompting Speaker to warn him that “this is the House, not a fish market”.
During subsequent proceedings of the House, Kundu again said, “The sugar mills cannot be in profit till the scams are not curbed. How can you expect increased rates of sugarcane when the mills are facing losses? There is not a single mill which is not facing annual losses of Rs 100 crore while this amount was Rs 12-13 crore just 4-5 years back. During past four years, a loss of Rs 3,300 crore has been shown by Haryana sugar mills. Get it investigated,” he again urged the chief minister.
However, after he failed to get a satisfactory response in the House, Kundu later told mediapersons and announced that he shall withdraw his support from the government, Friday.
After Kundu’s announcement, Khattar too spoke with mediapersons and said, “We shall speak to him. We are open to ordering a probe if there is credible preliminary evidence to support his allegations. But if there is no evidence, there is no point in ordering any inquiry.”
In the 2019 Vidhan Sabha polls, BJP had got 40 of 90 Assembly constituency seats and fallen short of 6. The Dushyant Chautala-led JJP that with its 10 MLAs supported BJP and 6 of 7 Independent MLAs who won also supported the government. Kundu, a rebel BJP leader who had contested as an Independent candidate after BJP denied him the ticket to contest polls, was also among the six who had supported BJP.
The Haryana Police had over a month ago booked Balraj and his brother Shivraj Kundu for allegedly cheating a Rohtak resident.