Haryana Chief Minister, Manohar Lal Khattar, on Thursday said in the Assembly elections for five states, the Congress has slowly been rejected by the people and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has emerged as a powerful party.

Speaking to reporters after the saffron party’s victory in four states, Khattar said BJP works in the public interest, so the public is considering it as paramount.

Khattar said in the elections held in five states, the people of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, and Manipur the BJP has formed the government with a full majority.

“BJP was in power in these states earlier as well. In Punjab, BJP was not in power earlier and this time BJP contested 75 seats. In Haryana BJP also contested elections alone in 2000 and got the result (came to power) in 2014,” he added.

Khattar said the BJP is working for the betterment of all sections of society. “The BJP brought schemes like Ujjwala scheme for women, Har Ghar Nal se Jal, money transferred directly to Jan Dhan account to account and launched Beti Bachao Beti Padhao campaign. These schemes have had fruitful results,” he said.

Replying to a question, the Chief Minister said the Aam Aadmi Party’s ideology of giving freebies is not in the interest of the country. “It is making the public negative by distributing it for free. It is in the interest of the country to work to make the people self-reliant and make them happy. The public understands this. That is why the AAP party did not get support in Haryana in the past,” he said.

In response to another question, the CM said the issue of water sharing through the Satluj Yamuna Link (SYL) canal will come up in the future.

“On the one hand there is an AAP government in Punjab which gives water, and on the other hand, it is the AAP government that takes water in Delhi. Let’s see what a role it plays,” he added. In response to another question, he said in Punjab all the parties were defeated, there was disillusionment towards them.

The CM said the farmers’ movement was of a particular group and not of all the farmers. “It never became a mass movement but was a movement of coercion, which took a toll with blockade of roads. For this reason, BJP has also won in Lakhimpur, the area of Rakesh Tikait,” he said.