Himachal Govt misusing official machinery to influence byelections, alleges Jai Ram Thakur

Dharamsala, July 3

The state government is misusing power and the official machinery to influence the forthcoming byelections, alleged Leader of the Opposition Jai Ram Thakur while addressing mediapersons in Dehra today.

He alleged that government departments were raiding shopkeepers, who were supporting the BJP. “Government employees are being threatened that they will be transferred even if their relatives support the BJP,” he added.

“People have already given their mandate against the present Congress government. In the recent Lok Sabha elections, the Congress could secure lead only in seven of the 68 Assembly segments. The Congress had trailed even in Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s native Assembly constituency of Nadaun in the Lok Sabha poll,” he claimed.

He said that people voted against the Congress government in the Lok Sabha elections as it had closed down 1,000 institutions opened by the previous BJP government. “The Chief Minister closed the SDM office opened in the Rakkar area of the Jaswan Pragpur constituency in Kangra where the paternal village of his wife falls. The previous BJP government had given Rs 600 crore for the development of Dehra. I had sanctioned a bridge on the Nand Nullah on the request of Hoshiyar Singh. However, the Congress government discontinued the work on the bridge when Hoshiyar Singh as an Independent MLA distanced himself from it,” the former Chief Minister alleged.

Thakur said that corruption had peaked during the Congress’ 16-month rule. “Open gang wars are happening in the Baddi area over scrap contracts and a senior Congress leader was involved in one of the incidents. In Bilaspur, the son of a senior Congress leader hired goons from Punjab to attack his rivals. There is another scam coming to light in the state where a company has been given the contract of supply bottled water in schools. The specifications and quality of bottled water have been tailored to help a particular company,” he alleged.

He said that development had come to a standstill in the state during the Congress rule. “The previous BJP government used to give uniform to the students of government schools but the present Congress government discontinued the practice,” he added. — TNS

CM called Dehra in-laws’ place only in bypoll

The Chief Minister started calling Dehra as the area of his in-laws only during the byelections. The Chief Minister’s wife need not contest the byelection to work for Dehra. She could have told the Chief Minister if something was to be done for her paternal place and it would have been done. — Jai Ram Thakur, Leader of Opposition