Munish Sood
Mandi
The Himachal Pradesh unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday launched a sharp attack on the Congress-led state government during a massive workers’ convention held at Vipasha Sadan in Mandi, accusing the ruling dispensation of corruption, financial mismanagement and failing to fulfil its election promises.
The convention was attended by BJP national vice-president Saudan Singh, state BJP president Rajeev Bindal, chief spokesperson Rakesh Jamwal, party general secretary Payal Vaidya, MLAs Anil Sharma, Inder Singh Gandhi and Purn Chand, besides several party office-bearers and workers.
Addressing the gathering, Saudan Singh alleged that the government led by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu had pushed Himachal Pradesh towards “economic bankruptcy” in its three-and-a-half-year tenure.
He claimed that the state’s debt had crossed Rs 1.10 lakh crore and accused the Congress government of adding more than Rs 40,000 crore in fresh loans during its tenure. According to him, Himachal Pradesh had a debt burden of nearly Rs 70,000 crore accumulated over the previous three decades till 2022, but the present government had significantly increased it within a short span.
Saudan Singh further alleged that while the government cited a lack of funds for development works, crores of rupees were being spent on the “luxuries of close associates and friends.” He claimed that roads across the state were in poor condition, hospitals were facing shortages of doctors, educational institutions lacked teachers and development works had virtually come to a standstill.
The BJP leader also accused the government of slowing down or shutting several projects initiated during the previous BJP regime. He said welfare schemes such as Himcare, Sahara and Ayushman Bharat were facing financial delays, affecting healthcare services in the state.
Taking aim at the Congress government over its poll guarantees, Saudan Singh alleged that promises made to women and youth had not been fulfilled. He said the promise of providing Rs 1,500 per month to women remained unimplemented even after more than three years in office, while unemployed youth were still waiting for jobs.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Rajeev Bindal termed the Congress government “anti-people” and accused it of burdening citizens through increased HRTC fares, water bills, ration depot prices, stamp duty, cement prices and entry taxes.
Bindal further alleged that incidents of gang wars, murders, extortion and organised crime had increased during the present regime. He said the state government had failed to maintain law and order and accused it of indulging in blame games instead of addressing public concerns.
The BJP state president claimed that over 1,500 institutions, including schools, colleges, hospitals and revenue offices, had either been shut down or were facing closure during the Congress tenure. He also alleged that funds belonging to gram panchayats, block development committees, zila parishads, municipal councils and municipal corporations had been diverted to the state government account, affecting development works at the grassroots level.
The BJP leaders asserted that people of Himachal Pradesh were now disillusioned with the Congress government and would give a “strong reply” in the upcoming Panchayati Raj and urban local body elections.
Party leaders urged workers to reach out to people at the booth level and highlight what they termed as the failures and “false guarantees” of the state government while mobilising support for BJP-backed candidates in the upcoming elections.
