“No other state is helping farmers as much as Haryana does.”

Manohar Lal Khattar is running from the Karnal seat in the Lok Sabha election. He has already spent nine and a half years as the Chief Minister of Haryana. One of the leading BJP politicians, he is now visiting the state to raise support for Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, who is running for the Karnal Assembly seat, as well as nine other Lok Sabha candidates.

Manohar Lal Khattar discussed a variety of topics in an interview with Parveen Arora, including his time as chief minister, farmer concerns, and unemployment. Takeaways from the conversation:

In addition to the state’s ten Lok Sabha seats, Haryana will also see a byelection for the Karnal Assembly seat, in which Chief Minister Saini is running. How ready are you for the upcoming Haryana elections?

The BJP is ready for the Karnal and Lok Sabha byelections. Every leader and worker in the party is giving the candidates their all. By an unprecedented margin, we will win 11 seats in Haryana—10 from the Lok Sabha and 1 from the Karnal Assembly byelection. The BJP had taken 10 of the 10 seats in 2019.

Farmers claim they are being prevented from crossing borders and are protesting for the minimum support price, or MSP. What steps is the government doing to address the concerns that it has about MSP?

Other than Haryana, no other state offers farmers as many amenities. At MSP, Haryana is buying 14 crops. For crops harmed, our government has offered the greatest compensation. Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s previous Congress administration provided farmers a compensation of Rs 1,100 crore over a ten-year period. Farmers who have lost crops during the last nine and a half years have received compensation of Rs 13,000 crore from the state’s BJP administration.

We deposit money into the farmers’ accounts directly. Farmers get subsidies. Due to the previous Congress government’s lack of vision, there were lengthy lines for fertilisers under the state’s Congress administration since there was a scarcity of DAP and urea because no purchase was made in 2013–14. Due to a shortage of stock in 2014–15, we had problems and had to enlist the assistance of the police to distribute DAP and urea. DAP and urea are now in ample supply across the state.

The unemployment problem is being brought up by the opposition. What strategies are in place to address the issue of unemployment and provide job opportunities?

In tackling the problem of unemployment in Haryana during the last nine and a half years, our administration has made considerable progress compared to the previous government’s ten-year mandate. In comparison to the Congress rule, three times as many employment possibilities have been generated. More employment will be offered and the remaining results will be announced in the following six months after the abolition of the model code of conduct. Foreign investment resulted in the employment of almost 30 lakh individuals.

In what way do you evaluate your effectiveness as Chief Minister in tackling the problems that the state of Haryana is facing?

The state’s citizens will evaluate my work. Our aim for the state’s entire growth has been “Haryana Ek, Haryanvi Ek,” which has guided our activities. We made every effort to remove prejudice, nepotism, and corruption and replace them with openness. The administrative systems of the state have undergone radical alteration thanks to us.

Accountability, responsiveness, and accessibility to the people it served improved inside the government. One important instrument for making government more accessible and effective is e-governance. We have prioritized the general well-being of the populace as well as industrial development and economic prosperity. Our dedication to education and health includes the founding of women’s and medical institutions.