Chandigarh, Mar 2 (IANS): The Congress has sought time to meet the Haryana Governor on March 6 to submit a memorandum against the e-tendering of panchayats and rising inflation, former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said on Thursday.

Hooda said the BJP-JJP government is working to "suppress the voice of the people and weaken democratic institutions".

"The government has given evidence of its undemocratic thinking by cane-charging farmers, youth, government employees and elected panchayat representatives," he said.

"By implementing the system of e-tendering, the government wants to keep panches and sarpanches powerless, and villages deprived of development. The government wants to establish a new den of corruption by handing over the Panchayati Raj Institutions to contractors and officials through an e-tendering process. This is why panches and sarpanches are opposing this decision, because they are the elected representatives and they have direct accountability towards the public," Hooda said in a statement.

The Leader of the Opposition said the cane-charge on the sarpanches in Panchkula on Wednesday for raising their voice for their legitimate demands is highly condemnable.

"In a democracy, the voice of the public cannot be suppressed on the basis of batons and bullets. In such a situation, being the guardian of the Constitution, the Governor should intervene and give necessary instructions to the state government," he said.

Also, the Congress will raise the issue of price rise before the Governor.

"The government continues to hit the public with inflation... the government has once again increased the rate of domestic cooking gas cylinders by Rs 50 and commercial cylinders by Rs 350. The public is facing the skyrocketing inflation of petrol-diesel and food items," he added.