Chandigarh, Sep 20 (IANS): Favouring provision for reservation of the OBC women, former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Wednesday said the Congress has always been in favour of women’s reservation.

“The Congress has supported the Women's Reservation Bill presented in Parliament, but there should also be a provision for reservation of the Other Backward Class (OBC) women along with the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes, only then representation to all sections be ensured.

“Also, the Congress demands that women's reservation should be implemented in the 2024 elections, instead of postponing it to the future. If the government wants, it can be implemented only in the coming elections. But despite being in power for nine years, the BJP did not make any efforts in this direction, which makes the BJP’s intention clear,” he said.

Hooda said every section in the state is upset with the present government, as it has proved to be a failure on every front. “This is why the public is expressing anger in the government’s public dialogue programme. In the next series of public outreach programmes, the Congress is going to hold a Jan Milan programme in Jind on October 8,” he said.

Hooda reiterated the demand to start purchasing paddy and remove the ban on its export. He said farmers of the state are being forced to sell their produce below the minimum support price (MSP) because the government has not started procurement.

“They are forced to sell their crops below MSP. The farmers are already hit by the huge losses caused by this callous and negligent attitude of the government. The farmers of the state are neither getting the MSP nor compensation during the tenure of the BJP-JJP government.

"This is the reason why the farmers of the state have reached the verge of ruin. In the coming elections, they will teach a lesson to the BJP-JJP by handing out a defeat to the government,” he added.