Donning battle gear, Hooda campaigns across Haryana

Meham (Haryana): After thwarting foes within, two-time Chief Minister and Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, 72, is donning battle gear to campaign across Haryana to ensure the return of his party in the state that is currently led by BJP’s first-time Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.
For Hooda, BJP’s national issues like abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and national security are of little relevance for the assembly election.
It is the local issues like rising unemployment, deteriorating law and order, closure of industrial units and increasing debt that are the deciding factors.
“Once Haryana was number one due to high economic parameters, including the per capita income and per capita investment. Now it is number one in crime with a huge unemployment,” Hooda told IANS on Thursday during an interaction while touring Jat-dominated Congress stronghold of Meham constituency that is represented by Anand Singh Dangi.
According to Hooda, the state has the highest unemployment rate of 28.7 per cent in the country.
“There has been no regular recruitment in government departments for five years. For Class IV posts, postgraduates have been enrolled,” he said.