Chandigarh, March 23 Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda said on Monday that the five Congress legislators accused of cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha polls to two seats in Haryana should resign on moral grounds.
The Congress has already issued a show-cause notice to the five MLAs for alleged cross-voting during the March 16 elections.
"The names of those who cross-voted are clear...the party has served them a show-cause notice and given them a week to respond. The party will take action," Hooda, the Leader of the Opposition in the Haryana Assembly, said.
"However, my stance is that if they have integrity, they should resign. If they no longer have faith in the party, they should step down," he told reporters in Rohtak.
The former chief minister further stated that these five MLAs have betrayed the people who elected them, more than the party itself.
BJP's Sanjay Bhatia won one seat comfortably, while Congress candidate Karamvir Singh Boudh secured the second seat in a close contest against Independent candidate Satish Nandal.
The Congress has identified five of its MLAs who allegedly cross-voted in the RS polls and issued show-cause notices to them.
When asked about INLD, which has two MLAs, abstaining from voting in the RS polls, Hooda wondered why they waited till 3 pm and decided just an hour before voting was to end.
He said the INLD decided to abstain after it became certain that the Congress candidate was winning.
During the press conference in Rohtak, which he addressed along with party leaders Raghuvir Singh Kadian and B B Batra, Hooda, while touching upon other issues, alleged that the BJP government has pushed Haryana into a situation where it is lagging behind in every sector.
He alleged that the law and order situation has deteriorated while corruption is rampant.
"Similarly, the situation in the education sector remains dismal. In the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) rankings released by the Union Ministry of Education, not a single university from Haryana managed to secure a spot in the top 100. In the Happiness Index, Haryana ranks 16th nationwide," he added.
"In the 'State on Performance-Based Indicators' report (2025-26) published by the Ministry of Rural Development, Haryana stands at the 11th position. According to NITI Aayog's SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) Report for 2023-24, the state ranks 14th in the entire country. It also holds the 14th position among 18 states in NITI Aayog's Fiscal Health Index," he pointed out.
Hooda cited a report by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, and claimed that Haryana ranks fourth in the country regarding farmer indebtedness, with an average debt burden of Rs 1,82,922 per farming family.
"In NITI Aayog's Export Preparedness Index (EPI) 2024 report, Haryana has slipped to the 10th position in the overall rankings, a decline from its 5th position in the EPI 2021 report. The state's score has dropped from 63.55 to 55.01, a testament to the government's policy failures," he alleged.
Hooda also alleged that industries are moving from Haryana due to the BJP government's flawed policies.
"According to government data, 1,446 factories have either shut down or relocated since 2018-19," he claimed.
The Congress leader stated that the intermittent, unseasonal rains witnessed recently have caused severe damage to the wheat and mustard crops.
The government must immediately conduct a special 'Girdawari' (crop damage assessment) and provide compensation to the farmers. Furthermore, all necessary arrangements for crop procurement must be streamlined, he said.
He alleged that instead of facilitating farmers, the BJP government is harassing them.
"New rules are being framed for crop procurement, such as the stipulation that only the farmer whose name is registered on the portal (i.e., the registered landholder) is permitted to bring their produce to the mandi. However, in farming families, the responsibility of visiting the mandi is often entrusted to any member of the family."
"In many instances, the land is registered in the names of women of the family; how are they expected to drive a tractor to the mandi and wait there for days for their produce to be procured," he questioned.
Hooda slammed the government over its claims that there is no shortage of LPG, and asked why are people queuing up outside cooking gas agencies at various locations.
He also alleged that the BJP government in Haryana has failed to provide any clarification regarding the situation.