Former CM Hooda Leads Congress Protest, Demands Regularisation of All HKRN Workers

Rohtak/Panchkula, August 19, 2026: The Congress on Wednesday staged a major protest in Panchkula demanding regularisation of employees working under the Haryana Kaushal Rozgar Nigam (HKRN). Thousands of party workers, led by former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda and state Congress president Rao Narender, marched towards the HKRN office but were stopped by police barricades.

Hooda alleged that the BJP government was exploiting youth through HKRN and promoting contractual employment instead of creating permanent jobs. He demanded regularisation of all HKRN workers along with equal pay, DA, promotions, reservation and retirement benefits.

He alleged that even gazetted posts were being filled through HKRN, undermining reservation rights of Dalits, backward classes and economically weaker sections. Hooda claimed that the Congress government had increased the number of government posts to four lakh, while the BJP government had reduced it to around 2.5 lakh.

Hooda also accused the BJP of failing to honour its pre-Assembly election promise to regularise 1.25 lakh skill workers. He said that although a notification was issued on August 15, 2024, no law or formal order for regularisation had been brought in nearly two years.

Rao Narender said the Congress government’s regularisation policy had received judicial validation, while the BJP had failed to frame a similar policy during its more than 11 years in power.

Rohtak MP Deepender Singh Hooda alleged that the government did not even recognise HKRN personnel as employees, referring to them as “deployed” workers. He demanded that recruitments through HPSC, HSSC and other agencies be made on a permanent basis with full adherence to reservation norms.

On the issue of candidates being declared “Not Found Suitable” (NFS), Deepender Hooda alleged discrimination against SC and OBC youth, saying, “No youth of Haryana is not found suitable.” He warned that Wednesday’s protest was only a “trailer” and that the Congress would intensify its agitation if the demands were not accepted.

MP Varun Mulana, Satpal Brahmachari and  Karmveer Boudh, along with MLAs, former MPs, former legislators and a large number of Congress workers participated in the protest.