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Ahead of Himachal budget session, war of words intensifies between Congress, BJP
“Compensation was paid in lump-sum to the affected families affiliated with the Congress while those belonging to other parties were only given partial relief,” the Bharatiya Janata Party leader said
Ahead of the budget session, the Bharatiya Janata Party sharpened its attack on the ruling Congress government. Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur accused of irregularities in disbursing relief to the disaster-affected families. The Congress hit back, blaming the Jai Ram Thakur-led BJP government over “poor fiscal heath during its regime.”
“The government adopted lopsided approach in disbursing the relief to disaster-hit families,” alleged Jai Ram. “Compensation was paid in lump-sum to the affected families affiliated with the Congress while those belonging to other parties were only given partial relief,” the Bharatiya Janata Party leader said, according to a statement issued in Shimla on Tuesday. He added that the affected families were now knocking on the doors of the district administration to get the relief money.
The former chief minister alleged that numerous cases of inadequate compensation have come to light in Kullu and Mandi districts. The Opposition party demanded a high-level probe into the relief compensation. Jai Ram said that he would raise the issue in the assembly during the winter session.
“BJP is the responsible opposition. We will oppose every wrong decision which is directly related to the public. Himachal is yearning for development. Situation is chaotic everywhere,” he said.
Chief parliamentary secretaries Sunder Singh Thakur and Sanjay Awasthy, in a joint statement issues in Shimla on Tuesday, said that it seemed that the former chief minister had “forgotten his regime, wherein the BJP government intentionally pushed the state in financial crises.”
They reminded Jai Ram of ₹75,000-crore loans which they had taken to run the state.
“To hide his misdeeds, Jai Ram is making statements regarding the loan taken by the present government. We want to remind him that apart from the loan of around ₹75,000 crore, they have also cheated the employees of the state government and refrained from paying the benefit of sixth pay commission which was around ₹11,000 crore,” the statement added.
All party meeting held at Vidhan Sabha
Speaker Kuldeep Pathania conducted an all-party meeting on Tuesday. Parliamentary affairs minister Harshwardhan Chauhan, chief parliamentary secretary Mohan Lal Brakta, BJP MLA Balbir Verma and independent MLA KL Thakur participated in the meeting.
Pathania appealed to all the members of the ruling party and the Opposition to provide constructive cooperation in the session.
