New Delhi, August 25 – Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Sunday came all guns blazing against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he will avenge his insult at a rally in Kaithal where he was booed while sharing the dais with the former by getting votes in the upcoming assembly elections.
The Congress leader was referring to the embarrassment he faced last week when he was booed away by the crowd from the stage, which he was sharing with Modi.Terming the Kaithal incident an insult to Haryana, Hooda, while addressing a rally at Panipat, expressed confidence that the people would vote for the Congress.
“Haryana never tolerates an insult. My insult was an insult to Haryana,” he said, adding, “I went there, because I respected the dignity of PM’s position. I want to know who those people were and where they came from. We will avenge the insult with votes,” he told the rally.
Calling the BJP government at the Centre anti-farmer, he said if the government changed the National Food Security Act, the Congress would give them a befitting reply. “I want to warn the BJP government at the Centre that if they make changes to the Food Security Bill or other schemes, we will give a befitting reply to them,” he said.
The Haryana chief minister had to face an unpleasant situation in Kaithal when the crowd shouted slogans against him while he was addressing a rally in the presence of the prime minister. As Hooda hurriedly continued to read out from his prepared speech, Modi waved to the crowds urging them to maintain composure.
However, the crowds were in no mood to pay heed and continued to interrupt the chief minister during his speech, which was completely inaudible. Moments after being booed by a crowd, a furious Hooda said that he would never share the stage with Modi.
However, three days after the hooting incident, Modi appeared to reach out to Hooda by inviting him over a cup of tea. Hooda met Modi at his residence and discussed development issues relating to the state. Hooda is not alone who has been heckled while sharing dais with Modi.
Other non-BJP chief ministers such as Prithviraj Chavan and his Jharkhand counterpart Hemant Soren have also faced similar situations with the Maharashtra chief minister vowing to boycott events attended by Modi unless an assurance was given.
Chavan has maintained that his heckling at an event in the presence of Modi was pre-planned at a high level. Chavan was booed at a function at Solapur last Saturday where he had to stop his speech midway amid repeated chants of “Modi! Modi!”.
He had refused to attend a function in Nagpur with Modi on Thursday where the prime minister launched several infrastructue projects including a metro rail for the state’s second capital. Soren was on Thursday jeered at in the presence of Modi in Ranchi, with rally attendees shouting pro-Modi slogans.
– INDIA TODAY
