BJP-JJP combine enjoys majority in Haryana Assembly: CM Khattar

Playing down the Congress' claim of bringing a no-confidence motion against his government in the state Assembly during the upcoming Budget session, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Sunday said the BJP-JJP combine enjoys majority in the House.

"It is their right to bring a no-confidence motion against the government. We are in majority. The Opposition is doing such an exercise as they are afraid of their sustainability," the CM told reporters here.

The Budget session of the Haryana Assembly will commence from March 5. Leader of the Opposition in the House and Congress Leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda had said recently claimed that "voices of dissent" are being heard among the MLAs supporting the government and they will bring a no-confidence motion against it.

Khattar on Sunday said a Bill against religious conversion by force, inducement or through marriages solemnised for the sole purpose of adopting a new religion will also be introduced in the Budget session.

The Bill will be brought in which there will be provisions against conversion by misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, inducement, marriage or any fraudulent means, Khattar said.

The CM also sought to play down the issue of reported dissatisfaction shown by his Home Minister Anil Vij over the extension given to DGP Manoj Yadava after the completion of his two-year term on the post.

"We had informed the Centre about the extension to be given by the state government to the DGP. There is a misconception and this will end," he said.

On the ongoing farmers’ agitation against the Centre’s three farm laws, he said farmers’ plan to raise the price of milk from Rs 50 per litre to Rs 100 per litre as part of the protest will fail their agitation.

He termed the farmers' agitation as a “political issue" with no justified demands.

Over the delay in the panchayat polls in the state, Khattar said, "Let the situation improve and farmers end protest, the polls will be conducted afterwards." Khattar, who also holds the finance portfolio, said separate provisions will be kept for the Below Poverty Line (BPL) families in the state Budget.

The monthly income of those falling under the BPL category has been raised from Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000, he added.

With groundwater resources depleting fast and canal water insufficient to meet farmers' needs by conservative flood irrigation method, the state government will set up four micro irrigation projects in districts of Mahendragarh, Bhiwani, Dadri and Fatehabad, he said.

An emphasis would be laid on crop diversification, sowing of cash crops to increase the income of farmers and bring them out of the debt trap, he added.

He ruled out the state government's role in the recent IT searches on the premises of Independent MLA Balraj Kundu.

"The state government has no role in it. The MLA had himself recently claimed that his business has become worth Rs 7,000 crore and this has come into the knowledge of the IT Department," he said.

He said the government policy to provide 75 per cent reservation to candidates from Haryana in the private sector will be notified soon.