Congress candidate was never in bypoll contest: Hooda
Hooda, who chaired a meeting of the Congress legislature party (CLP), said Beniwal was never in the fray.
Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Tuesday said the Congress candidate for Ellenabad assembly bypoll, Pawan Beniwal did not make enough efforts to stay in the contest.
Hooda, who chaired a meeting of the Congress legislature party (CLP), said Beniwal was never in the fray.
“Ummidwar chunav hi nahin lada (The candidate didn’t fight the bypoll). This is my estimation,” Hooda said, terming it one of the factors among others for the loss.
Beniwal had finished a poor third polling about 20,900 votes in the bypoll and lost his security deposit. The Congress vote share declined by 9.7% in the bypoll as compared to the 2019 general elections; while the BJP candidate got 9.1% more votes than in the 2019 polls.
Hooda said winning and losing is a part of the game. “We won the Baroda assembly bypoll handsomely. The party, however, needs to look into the causes of drubbing in Ellenabad,” he said.
Responding to a query regarding a show-cause notice issued by state Congress chief Kumari Selja to his loyalist, Bharat Singh Beniwal for “indulging in anti-party activities” during the bypoll and predicting that the Congress candidate will finish third in the bypoll, the former chief minister said Bharat had only made an estimation.
Addressing the media, Hooda asked the BJP-JJP government in state to revoke its order pertaining to handing over recruitments in universities to the Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC) and the Haryana Staff Selection Commission (HSSC).
“The coalition government is playing with the autonomy of universities by interfering in their recruitments. And by doing this, the government is violating the guidelines of the UGC and also the Centre’s new education policy.
Referring to the UGC rules and the guidelines of the new education policy, Hooda said every university already has suitable rules and committees for recruitment.
“Even in the last assembly session, CM Manohar Lal Khattar had assured the House that the recruitment of government universities will not be done through HSSC and HPSC. Despite this, the government is interfering in functioning of autonomous institutions. This will adversely affect their work and the level of education. Already the ranking of universities in Haryana is continuously falling. Only one university of Haryana is included in the top 100 universities,” he said.
Hooda said posts of about 34,000 teachers are lying vacant in government schools in state and headmasters are not appointed in 50% schools. Instead of paying attention to this, the government is engaged in demolishing the education structure, he added.
