The suave ‘bhai sahib’ of Haryana politics,

Hooda may not have increased strength of his

Cabinet colleagues despite tremendous pressure, but has ensured that his ministers have a lavish lifestyle. The latest from his basket has been one luxury car each for the families of his ministers in Chandigarh. After sanctioning Hyundai’s Camry for his ministers, the Chief Minister has now ordered Maruti Suzuki SX4 Sedans exclusively for the use of their families.

Hooda, who in the past has provided many such benefits to his council of ministers and legislators, has come under sharp attack from his opponents. They are highly critical of the Chief Minister, especially in the wake of severe power crisis in the state.

“This is nothing but wastage of money at a time when villages are not getting power for hours together. Instead, the Government should have taken care to improve the deteriorating power situation in the state,” said Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leader Sampat Singh.

The state Government, prior to providing comfort on wheels to the ministers and their families, had given his MLAs flats in the millennium city of Gurgaon and Panchkula. The Chief Minister justified the decision, saying that the facility was needed as the state MPs and MLAs had been finding problems staying in Delhi and Chandigarh. However, in order to prevent possible profit-making because of this decision, the Government put a rider that no transfer of ownership on these plots/ flats would be allowed for 10 years. Also, those who already had their flats in Gurgaon were not eligible for allotment.

Hooda’s kindness for his MLAs began soon after he became the Chief Minister. He gifted them trendy notebooks, costing the state Rs 80,000 each, and also conducted a training programme so that the legislators could learn how to operate the machine. It’s a different thing that not many MLAs responded enthusiastically to the programme. Also, needless to say, many of the notebooks were later used by the children of the MLAs as they hardly served any purpose for the politicians.

The MLAs were also given an assistant, paid by the Government, to keep track of their day-to-day work. “This was necessary because it was not easy for the MLAs to keep track of everything on their own. This would ensure that their works are well recorded,” said a senior officer.

The Government also doubled the salaries of ministers and allowances of the MLAs. Salaries of Speaker and ministers were raised to Rs 20,000 from Rs 12,000 while their office allowance was increased to Rs 2,000 from Rs 1,000. The MLAs were also taken good care of and their constituency allowance was hiked to Rs 15,000 from Rs 8,000. Their sumptuary allowance was raised to Rs 3,000 from Rs 1,000. After the legislators demanded an increase in their day allowance in the wake of rising prices, Hooda was kind enough to oblige by hiking the amount to Rs 1,000 per day from Rs 600.