Congress candidate from Mandi Lok Sabha seat, Vikramaditya Singh, on Friday reiterated his stance on wanting to fight the elections on the issues of development and work done by the Congress-led state government.
“We will fight on the front-foot and will reach out to people. We will highlight the developmental work we have carried out in state and welfare work during the last 15 months of our government,” Vikramaditya said.
Congress on Friday held a meeting to chalk out poll strategy for the Mandi constituency. Besides senior leadership including CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and party state unit chief Pratibha Singh, the meeting was attended by the leaders and office-bearers of Mandi parliamentary constituency.
‘BJP candidate insulting Sanatana Dharma’
After the meeting, Vikramaditya also launched an attack on his opponent Kangana Ranaut, saying the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate was insulting the Sanatana Dharma.
“However, it is also our duty to protect the Sanatana Dharma and I am hopeful that RSS will take note of this and take action,” he said, adding that the deep-rooted faith in Devi and Devtas in Himachal have to be protected and preserved.
Singh asserted that the BJP candidate’s actions amounted to disrespect towards deities before. before accusing the saffron party of launching an assault on Sanatana Dharma. “The promotion of a dietary culture that lacks connection to Sanatan Dharma is unfortunate. We will bring this issue to the public’s attention,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Singh asserted that the BJP candidate’s actions amounted to disrespect towards deities before. before accusing the saffron party of launching an assault on Sanatana Dharma. “The promotion of a dietary culture that lacks connection to Sanatan Dharma is unfortunate. We will bring this issue to the public’s attention,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Ranaut had earlier faced criticism after an old tweet of her commenting over over consuming beef had surfaced online. The Bollywood actress however denied the allegations.
“Besides BJP, I request Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh to take note of the situation and see how the BJP candidate is insulting Sanatana Dharma which is not good for our ‘Dev-Sanskriti’,” Vikramaditya Singh said.
The two opponents have been involved in the war of words in recent days. On Thursday, Ranaut called her opponent “chotta pappu”, prompting the Congress leaders terming her a “tourist”.
BJP’s Mandi in-charge hits back
Meanwhile, former minister and BJP in-charge of the Mandi parliamentary constituency Govind Singh Thakur said all achievements that Vikramaditya was counting on have been given to Himachal by the Centre, his only contribution is that he has worked as a postman.
“It is clear that the central government never discriminated against Himachal and all the allegations being made by the Congress leaders are baseless. Even at the time of the disaster, the Centre sent a relief amount of ₹1,800 crore. There was approval for construction of 21,000 houses,” he said.
Kangana meets panchayat representatives
Ranaut, meanwhile, held an introductory meeting with panchayat representatives, district development council members and party mandal office bearers at her native village Bhambla in Sarkaghat.
The BJP candidate also met her legal team to discuss the process of filing nominations.