Asserting that the ruling BJP in Himachal Pradesh will only propagate achievements of the government in the polls, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Friday said he was abused by Congress leaders in Mandi district and people will respond to such insults by casting their votes.

Addressing a public meeting at Sarkaghat in Mandi district, Thakur said by such acts, the Congress leaders insulted the electorate of the Mandi parliamentary constituency which they will not tolerate.

“When I talk about Mandi, it includes the whole constituency from Kinnaur to Bharmour.

The people who used to divide the voters of the state into the lines of language, cap, and region, are now accusing us of partiality.

And when we talk about statistics on development, they start looking on the other side,” he added.

He stated that he was not leveling personal allegations on Pratibha Singh, the wife of former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, and a two-time MP from Mandi Lok Sabha’s seat but the people were now asking as to how many times she had visited the area as an MP.

Singh used to come to the constituency with her husband Virbhadra but only to seek votes, the CM said.
He also took a jibe at Congress leaders for terming Kargil War as a small battle and that the party candidate Brig Khushal Singh Thakur hadn’t fought the battle alone.

The Congress leaders had forgotten that around 500 soldiers lost their lives in the battle and it was the duty of Thakur to capture Tiger Hill along with his brigade.

They raised questions on the Kargil War but now were claiming they didn’t say that and the party’s situation was the same across the country, he stated.

He further stated that the Congress party had even sent such a leader as star campaigner (Kanhaiya Kumar) which was accused of anti-national slogans and had even accused Indian Army soldiers of torturing youth and women in Jammu Kashmir.

He also took a jibe at Punjab Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu and a similar situation was prevailing in the opposition party unit in the state.

“We all aggrieved by the death of Virbhadra Singh but in Congress, there is a race to become big leader after Singh’s demise and they weren’t worried about the people of the state but only about their personal interests,” he added.

He listed the achievements of his government and admitted that price rise was an issue in the state and country as well but Prime Minister Narendra Modi was making efforts to bring the situation under control.