Haryana CM Nayab Saini dares Rahul Gandhi to debate BJP Yuva Morcha chief, says he will arrange venue

Chandigarh. Rahul Gandhi should come to Haryana and take questions from the BJP’s youth wing chief, Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini said on Friday. He said he would book the venue himself.

“It cannot be a one-sided affair where someone makes false claims and then walks away,” Saini told reporters at Haryana Niwas. He said the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha could not make what he called false allegations and then expect to face no questions.

The offer closes a week of debate dares. On Monday, Gandhi challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to an open debate on X, “any stage, any time”. On Thursday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah told a rally in Karnal that Gandhi could pick any crossroads in Haryana, and the BJP Yuva Morcha president would meet him there.

‘Go to EC, courts are open’

Saini said that if the Congress had a complaint about the electoral process, it should take it to the Chief Election Commissioner. “The Election Commission is an independent institution, and the doors of the courts are also open,” he said. He asked why the party was avoiding both, and said allegations made from home for public consumption would achieve nothing.

He accused the Congress of misleading the country in the name of “vote theft” and of casting doubt on democracy and the Election Commission. He said the party was doing this because it had no real issue to take to the people.

On complaints that names were deleted from voter lists or entered wrongly, Saini said the Election Commission has a set procedure. Electoral rolls were made public, and people had a month to file objections on the prescribed forms. Even so, he said, the Congress kept misleading the public.

“There has been no vote theft. What the Congress is facing today is the consequence of its own actions,” he said. “People are now even saying that the Congress should shut down the party.”

Saini spoke after releasing funds under several welfare schemes. Cabinet Minister Krishan Bedi and Chief Secretary Anurag Rastogi were present.

Paid in 72 hours, says Saini; Punjab farmers wait

Saini said Haryana farmers get paid for their crops within 48 to 72 hours, straight into their bank accounts. He called this a key benefit of the “double-engine” government. If a payment takes longer than 72 hours, the farmer gets interest on it. He said this was a commitment, not just an announcement.

In Punjab, he said, farmers have to wait for their money. Farmers from the neighbouring state often come to him with their problems, he said. According to them, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders promised at public meetings that all their produce would be bought, but they still struggle to sell their crops.

₹1,000 promise to Punjab women ‘a betrayal’

Taking on Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP and the Congress, Saini said women in Punjab were promised ₹1,000 a month at election time. By his count, that adds up to ₹50,000 per woman over five years. Now that elections are near, there is talk of putting ₹1,000 into their accounts, he said.

He asked why the money was not paid over the past five years. Winning women’s votes with promises and then not keeping them was a betrayal, he said.

He said Haryana had kept its promises to women. Families with an annual income of up to ₹1.80 lakh get LPG cylinders at ₹500. His government does not stop at announcements, he said, but delivers on the ground.

Help for sick cattle turned down

Saini accused the Bhagwant Mann-led Punjab government of playing politics with help for farmers, even during natural disasters. He said Prime Minister Modi gave ₹1,600 crore to Punjab and ₹1,500 crore to Himachal Pradesh, and that questions were being raised about how Punjab used its relief funds.

He said that when disease broke out among livestock in Punjab during the disaster, people there asked for help to treat their animals. Haryana offered to send vets and medicines, but the Punjab government did not allow it.

It was a matter of humanity, not politics, Saini said. Farmers were losing their animals to disease, and Haryana only wanted to save them. He called it unfortunate that politics was brought into the welfare of farmers and their livestock.

‘₹200 sent, ₹50 reached’

Saini said that under Congress rule, elderly people often went without their pension for up to six months. They made trip after trip to government offices and political leaders. Many waited outside offices in the scorching sun, and no one listened to them.

Under the old system, he said, when ₹200 was meant for a poor person, only ₹50 reached them, and no one accounted for the other ₹150. Today, under Modi, the full amount goes straight into the beneficiary’s bank account. He said Congress leaders who talk about “vote theft” should first answer for how they treated the poor, the elderly and the needy.

Saini said the Congress raised the “Garibi Hatao” (end poverty) slogan for 55 years but did not end poverty. He claimed that more than 50 crore people had come out of poverty in the past 12 years under Modi. He said poor families got pucca houses, LPG connections, clean drinking water in their kitchens and electricity. He asked Congress leaders what they had done for the poor in 55 years.

He said the Congress ruled the country for decades, and voters gave it chance after chance, generation after generation. People hoped its next generation of leaders would bring change, but nothing changed, he said. He said the party had no clear vision for the country even when it was in power, and its politics never went beyond charges and counter-charges. Its leaders have sometimes protested in black clothes and sometimes sat on dharnas, he said, and have now started turning up at village chaupals.

MSP and PM-Kisan

Saini said every scheme Modi has launched is a promise of support for the poor, farmers, women and young people. He said about ₹7.5 lakh crore has reached farmers’ bank accounts through 24 instalments of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi.

He accused the Congress of falsely telling farmers that the Modi government would scrap the Minimum Support Price (MSP). He said MSP rates go up every year, and farmers can see the benefits for themselves.

Plots, Rohtak and ‘regional favouritism’

The Congress had promised 100-square-yard residential plots to poor families in Haryana. Saini said the party announced this in the last days of the election campaign but gave people neither ownership papers nor possession. His government, he said, has given eligible families both. He said the Congress cared only about winning votes, while his government is making sure the poor get what is rightfully theirs.

He alleged regional favouritism under Congress rule in Haryana, saying development back then was talked about mostly in terms of Rohtak. Even people in that area now complain that the promised development never came, he said. He said development money was lost to corruption then, and his government is working to develop the whole state equally.

He alleged that the Congress and its allies have no real issues to raise and no achievements to show, so they are spreading lies and misleading people.

On Meira Kumar

Saini said he holds senior Congress leader and former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar in high regard as a distinguished and experienced leader. He called the way she was seated at a recent Congress event inappropriate. The stature and dignity of senior leaders should always be respected, he said.