PM Narendra Modi addressing a rally in Hisar, Haryana
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked the Election Commission to take "appropriate action" on the Haryana government reportedly giving sanction to a controversial land deal involving Congress president Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra.
Campaigning in Hisar in Congress-ruled Haryana, where assembly elections will be held next week, Mr Modi said, "Yesterday, despite the Model Code of Conduct, the son-in-law was given land. They know after the results he won't be given anything."
The PM alleged that Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was pressured by his party leadership to take such a decision. "It looks as if the
danda (stick) has come from the top. The Election Commission should take cognizance and appropriate action in this regard," Mr Modi said at an election rally.
Mr Modi was referring to media reports that Mr Hooda's government has cleared a deal for land in Gurgaon between real estate giant DLF and Mr Vadra, by holding as illegal, IAS officer Ashok Khemka's order canceling it.
Mr Khemka, who was then the Director General, Land Holdings and Land Records, had in 2012 cancelled the mutation of the land in Gurgaon alleging irregularities in the deal. He was later controversially transferred.
An official letter in July from the Deputy Commissioner of Gurgaon held that the deal "stands valid" and that by revenue records, DLF "stands owner of the land."
Mr Hooda did not comment on the letter, but alleged that Mr Modi's speech was "factually incorrect and far from the truth," while countering some other allegations that the PM made against the Haryana government.
During his campaign for the national elections, Mr Modi repeatedly targeted the Congress and the Gandhis over Mr Vadra's controversial business deals. His party, the BJP, won the biggest mandate in 30 years and Mr Modi took over as Prime Minister in May this year.
The Congress was reduced to its lowest number of seats in Parliament ever.
The BJP hopes to replicate that success in Maharashtra and Haryana in the October 15 elections. The Congress has ruled both the states for years now and the BJP is counting on Mr Modi's appeal to reverse that.
"It is clear from this decision of the shameless Hooda government that both he and the Congress party have already accepted defeat in Haryana," Mr Modi said today.