Anand Sharma hits out at PM Modi for failed promises

Pratibha Chauhan

Shimla, May 3 

Former Union Minister and Congress candidate from Kangra Lok Sabha seat Anand Sharma said that the BJP is insulting the electorate of India by declaring the results of the polls even before the elections have been held.

Talking to the media on Friday before leaving for Kangra to launch his campaign formally, he said that there is no place for the arrogance of the BJP leaders who have declared the results in their own favour weeks before the election.

“This is very unfortunate and there is no place for such behaviour in a democracy,” he said.

Sharma said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is saying things which he should not be saying as the PM. “First he must explain what he had promised in 2014. Where are those two crore jobs. He should talk about the wrong decisions and policies, including the Agniveer scheme for recruitment in the army, and the old pension scheme for government employees,” he added.

The Congress candidate said that merely propagating something which if hollow is not going to fetch them votes. “I am indebted to the Congress party for reposing faith in me and making me the candidate from Kangra seat,” he said. Sharma added that Shimla was his birth place, and Himachal and the entire country has been his karambhoomi.

The former minister said that he has worked for the people for more than five decades, during which several important projects have been approved and initiated for Himachal. These projects are proof of my work of decades for my state, he added.

Sounding optimistic about his victory, Sharma said that he has the support of the entire party organisation, chief minister, MLA’s and all the party workers. “Considering my contribution to public life and the works that I have done for the state will help me get the blessings of the people of Kangra,” he said.

Sharma, being perceived as an outsider in Kangra as he hails from Shimla, faces the tough challenge of shedding the outsider tag being given to him by the BJP. Congress sprung a surprise by fielding Sharma from Kangra as he hails from Shimla and has never contested a Lok Sabha election. He will be filing his nomination on May 9 for the parliamentary poll.