Former CM ignored Hamirpur, gave no funds for Dhumal’s bus stand project: Sukhvinder Sukhu

Hamirpur, July 3

The district was discriminated against during the tenure of the previous BJP government. Former Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur had not only ignored Hamirpur in development but also deprived the district of a Cabinet berth, said Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu while addressing public meetings in the constituency in support of Congress candidate Pushpinder Verma here today. He addressed public meetings at Balh, Baloh, Aghar, Dharog and Dhaned villages.

Sukhu said that when Hamirpur now got a Chief Minister, BJP leaders lured Independent MLAs and tried to dislodge the Congress government. He added, “When the government was busy in saving people during the monsoon disaster last year, former Independent MLA Ashish Sharma along with other MLAs, who betrayed me and the Congress, was conspiring against me to topple the Congress government.”

He said that Ashish Sharma, who is now the BJP candidate from Hamirpur, was elected an Independent MLA but he did not respect the public mandate. He added that the people of the Hamirpur constituency should ask Ashish Sharma why he had resigned from the Vidhan Sabha. He alleged that the BJP candidate had never come to him with the issues of public interest but approached him only for his personal works.

The Chief Minister alleged that Ashish as an Independent MLA had got government works of over Rs 150 crore for his company. He added that Ashish was misleading voters that the Chief Minister did not listen to him but the fact was that development works of over Rs 200 crore were started in the constituency by the present Congress government.

He said that former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal had planned the construction of a bus stand at Hamirpur but Jai Ram Thakur as Chief Minister did not sanction money for the project. “I have sanctioned over Rs 63 crore for the construction of the Hamirpur bus stand. I have a plan to set up a cancer research centre at a cost of Rs 200 crore in the district,” he claimed.

Sukhu sought votes for Verma and said that the Congress had fielded an honest and hardworking candidate and people should elect him with a big margin of votes. He added that Verma had lost the 2022 Assembly election from Hamirpur but he still continued to selflessly serve the people of the constituency.

Verma said that he was serving people as a doctor and as a politician for the past many years. He added that in the 2022 elections, the BJP candidate was elected MLA but he betrayed the people of the constituency.

He said that Ashish should tell people why he had resigned from the Assembly. He urged people to vote for the Congress to strengthen Sukhu’s hands. He requested people to give him a chance and he would get all pending welfare works done from the Chief Minister.

Technical Education Minister Rajesh Dharmani, MLAs Suresh Kumar, Chander Shekhar, Vivek Sharma, Ranjit Singh, KCCB Chairman Kuldeep Pathania, HPCC spokesperson Prem Kaushal were also present on the occasion.