Chandigarh: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday dubbed the INDIA bloc as an Opposition “khichdi” and said a “Modi wave” is blowing in the country. At a news conference here, Khattar, when asked about the 26-member opposition alliance, said, “This is ‘vipaksh ki khichdi’.” “Today, a Modi wave is blowing in the country,” he further said.
On the formation of the INDIA alliance to take on the ruling BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Khattar quipped that they (opposition parties) shake hands in the bloc’s meetings and at the same time they are against each other in states.
“They shake hands, then they say there is no scope here. Don’t know how the AAP and the Congress will come together in Punjab and Haryana…Let’s see,” he said. On Tuesday, former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda asserted that Congress is capable of winning on its own and will fight all 10 Lok Sabha seats in the state in the upcoming parliamentary elections.
Earlier, Hooda had also asserted that the Congress is capable of winning the 2024 state assembly polls on its own. In Punjab, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday said his party (AAP) knows fighting elections alone and winning them too, while many Punjab Congress leaders have opposed any alliance with the AAP in the state.
On opposition Congress in Haryana claiming they will form the next government in the state, Khattar said, “In the polls, they will be decimated…This is my prediction.” When asked why it took so much time to arrest cow vigilante Monu Manesar, Khattar said, “Rajasthan Police had registered a case against him. We had said earlier too if they seek any help, we have no problem.” Manesar was booked by the Rajasthan Police in connection with the murder of two Muslim men in February and is also accused of inciting communal hatred in their home state of Haryana.
“The case will run in Rajasthan. If he (Monu Manesar) is guilty, he will get punishment…If he is not, then no one can say anything. Monu Manesar had himself said in one video that if he is guilty then he should be hanged,” Khattar said. On Nuh police recently asking Congress MLA from Ferozepur Jhirka Mamman Khan to join the investigation in the Nuh violence case, Khattar said, “As far as Mamman Khan issue goes, if during investigations he is found involved then he will not be spared.
“When asked has any of the arrested accused in the Nuh violence case pointed any finger at Mamman Khan, Khattar said these are matters of investigation. On DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin’s remark on the Sanatan Dharma, Khattar said, “This country has its culture and heritage…If any person says anything against it, then people are not going to forgive them.
“On the ‘One Nation One Election’ concept, he reiterated it is a good thing. Asked if the BJP is prepared to hold assembly elections with parliamentary polls if such a situation comes, Khattar said, “We are prepared.”
