Calls Congress MLA Ram Kumar Chaudhary ‘mining mafia’, says Sukhu government has ‘failed’ Baddi
Munish Sood
MANDI: Himachal Pradesh’s politics turned turbulent on Wednesday (September 17, 2025) after BJP Rajya Sabha MP Harsh Mahajan made sensational claims against Congress MLA from Doon Ram Kumar Chaudhary, alleging that he once begged to switch sides fearing imminent CBI raids.
Speaking at a public event in Doon constituency’s Thana village on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday, Mahajan further accused Chaudhary and his family of being “mining mafia” that had looted Baddi’s industrial belt while the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu government looked the other way.
Mahajansays MLA ‘begged him to join BJP to escape raids’
Harsh Mahajan told the gathering that MLA Chaudhary personally approached him seeking entry into the party. “He came to me saying a CBI raid was about to happen and pleaded to be taken into the BJP. I folded my hands and refused. People who have sucked the blood of the public have no place in our party – they belong behind bars, not in politics,” Mahajan asserted.
Sukhu government under fire
Turning his attack towards the Congress-led state government, Mahajan blamed Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu for the decline of Himachal’s largest industrial hub Baddi.
“Thousands of crores are collected from industries here, yet roads are broken, factories are on the brink and investors are fleeing. Sukhu has completely failed Baddi. Revenue fills Congress leaders’ coffers while the public gets nothing,” he said.
While Ram Kumar Chaudhary has not yet issued any official response, his supporters have dismissed the allegations as a “politically motivated” and designed to damage his image.
It is notable that Mahajan himself was once a senior Congress leader and a close aide of former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh. He defected to the BJP ahead of the 2022 Assembly elections, later winning a Rajya Sabha seat through cross-voting, a move that nearly destabilised the Sukhu government.
