Hooda demands probe into Swarn Jayanti celebration funding

Chandigarh: Senior Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Thursday demanded a probe into funds spent by the Haryana government on the year-long Swarn Jayanti celebrations to mark 50 years of the state formation.

He demanded that the probe be done either by a sitting high court judge or the CBI.

"We demand a probe either by a sitting high court judge or CBI into how funds for the Swarn Jayanti celebrations were utilised. We believe that the funds have not been spent in a fair manner," Hooda told reporters here.

The Manohar Lal Khattar-led state government had organised several functions as part of the Swarn Jayanti celebrations between November 1, 2016 and October 31, 2017.

Describing the three-year tenure of the Khattar dispensation as "teen saal Haryana behaal", Hooda alleged that the government had spent Rs 1,600 crore of public money to propagate its "lies" during the Swarn Jayanti celebrations.

The former chief minister also slammed the state government for making "false" poll promises and said they only did "event management" in the past three years.

The Congress leader said contrary to Khattar's promise to provide 10 lakh jobs, less than 10,000 jobs had been given as of now.

"They should come out with a white paper as to how many jobs have been given by them," he said.