Congress will have more MLAs after 3 Himachal Assembly bypolls: Mukesh Agnihotri

Tribune News Service

Shimla, July 2

Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri today claimed that the strength of the Congress in the Vidhan Sabha would rise after the three upcoming byelections even more the total MLAs the party had after the 2022 Assembly elections. He asked the BJP to tell people what it had gained by inducing political chaos in the state over the past six months.

Centre not refunding Rs 9,000 cr, govt tells finance panel

• The state government has apprised the 16th Finance Commission of the harassment Himachal Pradesh is facing at the hands of the Central Government
• The government has told the commission that the Centre is not returning Rs 9,000 crore that employees have deposited under the New Pension Scheme
• The BJP’s decision to give ticket to the six disqualified Congress MLAs and three former Independent MLAs had left its cadres and leaders disheartened, said Agnihotri
• The Centre has reduced state’s loan limit, capped foreign funding on externally aided projects, stopped GST compensation

“The Congress had 40 MLAs and its number will go up to 41 after winning the three byelections. So, the BJP must explain to people what it has gained by attempting to topple the Congress government. It should seek an apology for forcing byelections on the state,” said Agnihotri while addressing a press conference here.

The Deputy Chief Minister said that the BJP’s Operation Lotus had been a failure and the political chaos induced by the BJP was coming to an end, with the Congress emerging as a clear winner. “The BJP’s lust for power will result in six or seven legislators becoming former MLAs. The BJP had instigate these MLAs, who had paid a price for it,” he added.

Agnihotri said, “While four MLAs have already paid the price, the three BP candidates, who had resigned as Independent MLAs to contest on the party ticket, will face a big defeat. People are asking them where was the need to resign and contest byelections when they had already been elected MLAs for five years?”.

Agnihotri said that the BJP’s decision to give ticket to the six disqualified Congress MLAs and three former Independent MLAs had left its cadres and leaders disheartened. “The BJP workers are upset and they are working with least enthusiasm for the byelections. The BJP leadership is struggling to explain to its cadre the reason for fielding outsiders as candidates,” he alleged.

He said that the state government had apprised the 16th Finance Commission of the harassment the state was facing at the hands of the Central Government. “We told the commission that the Central Government was not returning Rs 9,000 crore that the employees had deposited under the New Pension Scheme. The Centre has reduced Himachal’s loan limit, capped foreign funding on externally aided projects, stopped GST compensation and also reduced revenue deficit grants,” he added.

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