With chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu repeatedly asserting that BJP would discontinue the Old Pension Scheme if it returned to power, former chief minister Jai Ram Thakur reiterated the BJP’s stand on continuing the Old Pension Scheme (OPS).
Thakur said on Saturday that the BJP had already clarified its position several times.
Citing examples of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, Thakur said where Congress governments introduced OPS before leaving office and BJP governments were continuing the scheme. “In those states, OPS is continuing in exactly the form in which it was implemented,” Thakur said.
He maintained that the BJP had no intention of taking political revenge against government employees and said there was no question of unnecessarily creating controversy over the issue.
“We have made it clear, not once but many times, that there is no intention to work with a sense of political vendetta in Himachal Pradesh,” he said.
On the Congress protest outside the office of the chief electoral officer in Shimla against the election commission, during which the protesters also burnt an effigy and blackening the signboard outside the office, Thakur alleged that the Congress was attempting to attribute its electoral defeats across the country to the election commission.
He alleged that the Congress was attempting to create what he termed an “anarchic atmosphere” across the country. He said the same election commission conducted the elections in Himachal Pradesh following which the Congress formed the state government.
{{/usCountry}}He alleged that the Congress was attempting to create what he termed an “anarchic atmosphere” across the country. He said the same election commission conducted the elections in Himachal Pradesh following which the Congress formed the state government.
{{/usCountry}}He said deputy chief minister, and other Congress leaders holding constitutional offices were present during the demonstration, while AICC in-charge for Himachal Pradesh Rajani Patil was also there.
“Rajani Patil is there to discharge the responsibility of a political party, but people holding constitutional responsibilities were present while an effigy of a constitutional institution was being burnt and the board outside its office was being blackened,” he said.
Thakur described the incident as a serious matter and demanded that the administration take cognisance of it and register cases against those responsible in accordance with law.