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Health scam, slow pace of development amid corona crisis dominate Himachal BJP meeting
MLAs seek clarification from chief minister Jai Ram Thakur on Rajeev Bindal quitting as state BJP president, saying resignation sent out wrong signal
Corruption in the health department and the slow pace of development amid the Covid-19 pandemic dominated the discussion at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislature meet in Shimla, which was convened to draw up a strategy to counter the opposition Congress after it escalated its attack on chief minister Jai Ram Thakur.
The meeting held at the government-run Hotel Peterhoff on Wednesday evening lasted four hours. Thakur faced a volley of questions from BJP legislators over issues, including the bribe for health equipment scam that triggered the exit of Rajeev Bindal as state BJP chief after his name was dragged into the controversy.
Thakur reiterated that the party is clean and said that his government has zero tolerance for corruption as legislators repeatedly sought clarification from him on Bindal’s resignation.
“If the party has nothing to do with the graft case being investigated then why did the state president resign? The resignation has sent out a wrong signal,” a BJP legislator at the meeting said. Some even favoured Bindal’s reinstatement.
Most legislators were keen that the party appoint the new party chief at the earliest. The names of former Naina Devi legislator and acting president Randhir Sharma, the chief minister’s political secretary, Trilok Jamwal, and Kangra Cooperative Bank chairman Rajeev Bhardwaj were discussed.
RESUME DEVELOPMENT GRANT: MLAS
Legislators expressed concern about developmental works coming to a standstill due to the coronavirus crisis. They called for resuming the development grant that has been stopped since the pandemic broke out.
A few legislators referred to the chief minister’s helpline, saying “it’s rather proving to be a boon for Congress workers who call up to complain about the works initiated in constituencies. Consequently, the officers take cognizance and works are stopped during these corona times,” said another legislator.
ACTIVE CASE FINDING HELPED
Thakur focused his address on the steps taken by his government to combat Covid-19. He highlighted the efforts to bring back more than 1.8 lakh stranded people of the state in other parts of the country. This did lead to a spike in Covid-19 cases, he said, adding that still the situation is under control as the state government has made arrangements to ensure people arriving from other states are examined and kept in institutional or home quarantine according to their travel history and medical status.
He said that even Prime Minister Narendra Modi had appreciated the state’s active case finding campaign and asked other states to emulate the example. The chief minister also asked the legislators to counter the Congress campaign against the BJP after the pandemic gets over. It was decided that the legislators will hold press conferences in their constituencies for this purpose.
