Education Minister convenes meeting of Congress leaders from Solan’s five blocks for Lok Sabha poll

Tribune News Service

Ambika Sharma

Solan, April 22

Congress election in-charge for the Shimla Lok Sabha seat Rohit Thakur today convened a meeting of the party office-bearers of all five blocks of Solan district.

He urged the party functionaries to gear up for the Lok Sabha elections and ensure the victory of party candidate Vinod Sultanpuri, who is Kasauli MLA. Mayor of the Solan Municipal Corporation Usha Sharma, former Mayor Poonam Grover, former Deputy Mayor Rajeev Kaura and councillor Abhay Sharma, who are facing disqualification for voting against party candidates in the mayoral poll held in December 2023, met the Education Minister after the meeting. They aired their grievances and said they would join campaigning only after the government drops disqualification proceedings against them. Rohit promised to take up the matter with Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu for an early resolution.

Kashyap failed to make presence felt

Suresh Kashyap has failed to make his presence felt in the Shimla Lok Sabha seat. Out of around 900 panchayats in the Shimla segment, the residents of at least 450 panchayats have never seen him nor have they got funds for development in the past five years. —Rohit Thakur, Education Minister

The Education Minister, while addressing mediapersons, said, “The BJP’s unsuccessful attempt made to dislodge the democratically-elected Congress government by using money and muscle power will be a key poll plank.” He enlisted the failure of the Central Government to control the price rise. He added that there was resentment against the BJP for its “anti-people policies”.

He said, “The Congress government has fulfilled the poll promises of restoring the old pension scheme (OPS), which entails an annual liability of Rs 800 crore to Rs 1,000 crore. The BJP after coming to power in Rajasthan discontinued the OPS that the Congress government led by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had restored.”

Rohit said that the BJP had tried to obstruct the implementation of the flagship “Nari Samman Yojana”, under which Rs 1,500 per month was granted to the eligible women of the state.

He said that the tenures of former Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur and Shimla MP Suresh Kashyap had been a complete failure. “Suresh Kashyap has failed to make his presence felt in the Shimla constituency. Out of around 900 panchayats of the Shimla Lok Sabha constituency, the residents of at least 450 panchayats have never seen him nor received funds for development in the past five years,” he alleged.

The minister alleged that Kashyap only indulged in eulogizing Narendra Modi while the BJP failed to fulfil promises made to farmers and horticulturists, who would give a befitting reply to the party in the forthcoming elections.

He asked what Kashyap had done for the people of his constituency in the past five years as no development was visible. He elaborated upon developmental initiatives of the Congress government.

Health and Family Welfare Minister DR Shandil, Congress candidate Vinod Sultanpuri and Chief Parliamentary Secretaries also attended the meeting.

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