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Himachal government’s two-year milestone triggers Congress, BJP slugfest
Congress, BJP traded barbs over Himachal’s development model in the lead-up to the event marking the state government’s two-year completion.
The ruling Congress and the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) traded barbs over the state’s development model in the lead-up to the event marking the state government’s two-year completion.
BJP leader and Hamirpur MP Anurag Singh Thakur, while leading a protest in Una accused the government of being “directionless”, saying, “Himachal is witnessing the rule of the most directionless, insensitive and useless government in history. This government has neither been able to live up to the public sentiments nor its promises. Moreover, Himachal is being ridiculed everywhere due to the functioning of the Congress government.”
Notably, after chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu announced a mega-event in Bilaspur to celebrate the state’s government’s two-year benchmark on December 11, the BJP has planned a series of protests across various districts between December 7 and 10 aimed to highlight alleged failures.”
“The two-year rule of the Congress in Himachal has wreaked havoc on the people. Today, Himachal’s treasury is being looted. Due to Congress’ economic mismanagement, Himachal is in a debt of ₹97,000 crore and if the government continues with this policy, it will climb to ₹1.5 lakh crore,” Thakur alleged.
The Hamirpur MP raked up Congress’ 10 pre-poll guarantees, saying the party has deceived the people of Himachal by failing to fulfill them. “The mothers and sisters of Himachal are still waiting for their ₹1,500 per month. The farmers of Himachal are still waiting for the purchase of dung at ₹2 per kg and milk at ₹100 per litre. The families of Himachal are waiting for 300 units of free electricity,” he added.
Congress leader and education minister Rohit Thakur, meanwhile, trained guns at the previous BJP government, saying the Congress government inherited an overwhelming debt burden of ₹75,000 crore from the so-called “double-engine” government, leaving the state’s economy in a complete mess.
“The Centre’s exclusion of Himachal from the ₹3,296 crore special assistance for Capital Investment Scheme disregards the state’s pivotal role in India’s tourism,” the minister said.
Also accusing the previous BJP government for poor handling of the education system, Thakur said, “We have inherited a situation where 350 schools were functioning without teachers, 3,400 schools had just one teacher and over 12,000 teaching posts in the education sector were vacant.”
He highlighted the state government’s schemes, including the Mukhyamantri Sukh Shiksha Yojana aimed at providing financial assistance to widows, destitute, divorced and women with disabilities for the education and welfare of their children, restoration of the Old Pension Scheme and relief efforts after monsoon disasters.
