Chautala, who was on a whirlwind tour of Gurgaon villages today, lambasted the Hooda regime over the alleged irregularities in acquisition and subsequent release of land at the behest of certain Congress leaders."They (government) first issue notices for acquisition for a said chunk of land. The land is then purchased by persons close to ruling party leaders at low rates. Under pressure of acquisition, the owners go in for distress sale of their land. At a later stage, the acquisition is cancelled, following which the land is sold at much higher rates," he asserted, adding that many farmers of the state had thus been cheated.

The INLD leader warned the villagers that if this situation was allowed to persist, they would be forced to work as labourers on their own land. The former Chief Minister, who was accompanied by state INLD vice-president Anant Ram Tanwar, former Deputy Speaker of Haryana Assembly Gopi Chand Gehlot, Union Minister Rao Inderjit Singh's brother Rao Ajit Singh and local INLD leader Ramesh Dahiya, also castigated the Congress government for the "deteriorating" law and order situation in the state.

Chatting with the villagers in chaste Haryanvi in between his speech, Chautala urged them to cast their votes unitedly in favour of the INLD if they thought that his rule was better than that of the present regime. He promised to hike the old-age pension to Rs 700 per month if his party came to power.

The tour, which started from Sikanderpur village of the district early this morning, culminated at Gurgaon Gaon late in the evening.