It’s dhan bal vs jan bal in Dharamsala bypoll: Himachal CM Sukhvinder Sukhu
Dharamsala/palampur, May 27
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu today urged voters to punish BJP candidate for the Dharamsala bypoll Sudhir Sharma. He said that the Dharamsala Assembly bypoll was a contest between dhan bal and jan bal (fight between the might of money power and people’s power to vote).
He addressed rallies in favour of Davinder Jaggi, party candidate for the Dharamsala.
Sukhu levelled corruption charges against Congress rebel Sudhir and alleged that the BJP candidate had acquired 82 properties in and around Dharamsala in the name of his driver in the past three years.
He said that the people of Dharamsala had elected Sudhir as Congress MLA but he betrayed them by switching over to the BJP, He added that Sudhir had never come to him for people’s works.
Sudhir had confronted Sukhu’s charges saying that he would surrender any property found in his name beyond what he had declared in in his election affidavit. He has levelled counter charges of corruption against Sukhu.
Sudhir had also alleged that he was forced to leave the Congress and accused the Chief Minister of not releasing funds for the transfer of forestland for the construction of the campus of the Central University of Himachal Pradesh (CUHP) at Jadrangal in Dharamsala. He alleged that he decided to shift to the BJP for the sake of the development of Dharamsala that the Chief Minister had ignored.
Sukhu, while addressing a gathering at the Chambi ground in the Shahpur Assembly constituency of Kangra district, said that the six Congress rebel MLAs, who are fighting the byelections on the BJP ticket, had sold themselves to the opposition party and there was a conspiracy to topple the Congress government with money power.
He said that these elections were important for challenging unethical political practices. He added that the state government faced no threat, as was evident from the fielding of two MLAs in the Lok Sabha elections.
Sukhu said that the Congress would secure a landslide victory on all four Lok Sabha seats and in the six Assembly byelections. He added that the Congress had provided an opportunity to a person from an ordinary family like him to serve as Chief Minister. “The Congress government has restored the old pension scheme for its employees and initiated recruitment on 22,000 posts while the previous BJP government had filled only 20,000 posts in five years,” he claimed.
He said that if permission granted, Rs 1,500 per month would be deposited in the bank accounts of all eligible women within 24 hours, otherwise the two installments totalling Rs 3,000 would be provided next month. Besides, the state government had introduced welfare schemes for orphan children, widows and the elderly, he added.
Sukhu said that cow milk was being purchased for Rs 45 per litre and buffalo milk for Rs 55 per litre while wheat produced through natural farming was being procured for Rs 40 per kg and maize for Rs 30 per kg. He added that by curbing corruption, the state had generated an additional revenue of Rs 2,200 crore, which was now being redistributed among people through various welfare schemes.
