Ambala, June 23,Former Union minister Venod Sharma, who had resigned from the Congress prior to the Lok Sabha elections, on Sunday accused the Haryana Government of denying Ambala a fair share in development.

“There has been no industrialisation in Ambala. The project to set up an Industrial Model Township (IMT) here has been scuttled,” Sharma told the media.

Sharma, considered close to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, said Hooda could have got the IMT approved for Ambala by paying adequate compensation to farmers. “The IMT would have brought industries to Ambala and helped in generating employment. But that was not to be.”

He claimed the state government had failed to get a special package to promote manufacturing units in the state as had been done by the Himachal Pradesh Government. “Lack of political will in getting an incentive package from the Centre resulted in industrial clusters at Panipat and Faridabad fall on bad times,” Sharma said.

Sharma claimed that during the Gohana rally last year, the Chief Minister had promised to provide 50,000 jobs. “The promise will remain just a promise as the government has not made efforts to create jobs,” he said, adding that favouritism in granting jobs would no longer be tolerated.

Sharma announced that he soon would launch the Jan Chetna Party that would field candidates from maximum number of seats for the Assembly elections. “The party will raise issues affecting the common man, including price rise, reservation on financial grounds, and law and order.”

Not ruling out a possibility of his party forging an alliance with like-minded parties in the state, Sharma said extending support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi was a thing of the past.

Condemning the railway fare hike, he said the increase in fares was an unwelcomed move that would affect people across the country.