No infighting in BJP; confident of forming govt for third time: Haryana CM Saini

He also attacked Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi ahead of the second leg of the Congress leader's "Haryana Sankalp Yatra", terming it as "political tourism". "No senior leader from the Congress was campaigning in Haryana and now Gandhi is venturing on political tourism. He is welcome to see the development we have done in the state in the last 10 years. However, he will be faced with questions from voters about the 'kharchi' and 'parchi' that was rampant during the tenure of Bhupinder Hooda," Saini told PTI in an interview here.

The former Congress president will launch the second leg of his Haryana poll campaign from Naraingarh in Ambala district on Monday by addressing a public meeting. On reports of infighting in the BJP with two senior leaders -- Rao Inderjit Singh and Anil Vij -- staking claim for the top post, Saini, who has been fielded as the CM face by the BJP, said the party is united.

"There is no infighting, no factionalism, we are all united. They (Singh and Vij) are our senior leaders and are at the forefront of our election campaign. The BJP is a democratic party, anybody can raise their claim. The Parliamentary board will decide and the decision will be acceptable to all of us...there is no fight, there won't be any fight," Saini said.

"There is no confusion among the voters, they are going to vote for the 'double engine' government of the BJP and we will secure a hat-trick in the state. I am confident about it," he added. Saini took over as chief minister in March and is contesting the assembly polls from the Ladwa constituency.

"There is no division in the BJP but the Congress is definitely a divided house. They are not even able to value their own senior leaders, how will they value their promises to their public. The voters in Haryana are now smart enough to not let the Congress' "jhooth ki dukan" (shop of lies) be set up again in the state".

Rejecting reports of anti-incumbency, Saini said, "Whenever a party remains in power for two terms, the opposition just assumes that forming government will be difficult for a third time. But that is not the case... There is no anti-incumbency."

Asked about the BJP losing five seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls as compared to the 2019 general elections, Saini said, "Three of the five seats were lost by a very thin margin." "The Opposition set a false narrative about the Constitution being changed by the BJP government, which did hurt us in Haryana. However, we are ensuring that we take the right message to the voters to counter any disinformation being spread by Congress. As I said, their shop of lies will not have takers," he said.

In the run-up to the assembly polls, the BJP has promised two lakh government jobs, 10 industrial towns, a guarantee of government jobs for Agniveers, and a full scholarship for Scheduled Caste and Other Backward Class students at government medical and engineering colleges.

Targeting the Congress, he said the governments led by it "from 2004 to 2014 saw 'parchi-kharchi'. The BJP government abolished this system of kharchi-parchi and gave 1.5 lakh government jobs with transparency". The BJP has been attacking the Congress over the kharchi-parchi system (corruption-favouritism) allegedly prevalent in earlier regimes of the grand old party.

The BJP, the chief minister said, is also doing more for farmers as it is giving MSP for 24 crops. "The Congress has governments in so many states, but not even one state gives MSP on 24 crops like we are giving. They have been trying to mislead the public about the Agniveer scheme too but gradually people have begun to see through their false narrative," Saini said.

Asked about BJP rebels who are contesting as independents after being denied tickets, Saini said, "We tried to convince all of them, some agreed, while some are still in the fray. It is an individual call. I do not feel it is going to impact our tally".

Saini was here in support of incumbent MLA and former minister Om Prakash Yadav. The 90-member Haryana Assembly is scheduled to go to polls on October 5 in a single phase and the counting of votes will be taken up on October 8.

While the BJP has set its sights on a hat-trick of wins, the Congress is aiming to come back to power in Haryana after a 10-year hiatus. The BJP had secured a majority in 2014, the first time in the state. However, it had fallen short of the majority mark in the 2019 polls and had formed the government in alliance with the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) by offering the deputy chief minister post to Dushyant Chautala.