Foundation stone broken, Dharamsala MLA cries foul
A foundation stone laid by Sudhir Sharma, the sitting BJP MLA from Dharamsala, earlier this year was found to be broken, kicking off a political controversy. As Congress MLA Sharma had laid the stone for a community centre at Passu village near Dharamsala on February 24.
The BJP alleged that the foundation stone had been deliberately broken by Congress workers. Sharma told the Tribune that it was unfortunate that the foundation stone had been broken as public money was spent on it. He said “vandalising” it was an attack on public property. “Vandalising foundation stones laid by BJP leaders has become the new trend during the present Congress regime. People who themselves cannot contribute to society don’t like development works being done by others,” he said.
Sharma added, “Though they have vandalised the foundation stone laid by me, I hope that the government does not stop the work for which the stone was laid.”
The BJP workers, who had gathered to congratulate Sharma on his birthday today blamed the Congress for the incident. There was no reaction from the Congress leadership over the incident. Sharma, a former Congress MLA from Dharamsala, along with six Congress MLAs, had defected to the BJP. He was, re-elected as BJP MLA from Dharamsala in the byelection.
