Himachal Pradesh BJP President Suresh Kashyap has slammed the Congress-led government under the leadership of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu for creating an imbalance in the system in the state.

In a statement issued here on Wednesday, Kashyap said that the previous CM Jai Ram Thakur government had made diesel cheaper in November 2021, but the Sukhu government has now jacked up the prices.

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“When Jai Ram Thakur government was in power, not even a single Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS) was appointed, but the Congress government has gone ahead with the appointment of six CPS, which will increase the financial burden on the state exchequer,” he blamed.

Accusing the Sukhu Government of creating regional imbalance after its cabinet expansion, he said that five ministers and three CPS have been appointed from the Shimla parliamentary constituency, however big districts like Kangra, Mandi, Una, Hamirpur, Bilaspur have been left out.

Taking a dig at the incumbent government, Kashyap said that CM Sukhu delayed the cabinet expansion and now he was facing difficulty in allotting portfolios to the newly-inducted ministers.

“The appointments seem to be ironical. It seems that the Congress has made these appointments to save its government,” he claimed.

The change in the system in the state has taken for the worse after the decision to close 619 offices and also two big cement factories have been closed, he charged.

These cement factories were closed on the night of 14 December 2022, he said, accusing the state government of failing to take any concrete steps to resolve the cement factory dispute.

“Due to the closure of cement factories, there is a crisis in the livelihood of 30,000 families and the state is facing a loss of about 118 crores per month, including the revenue from both the factories,” he blamed.

“Sukhu has started a new phase of system change in Himachal Pradesh. Recently the state government increased VAT on diesel making it expensive by Rs 3.01, which will hit the common people and invite inflation in the state,” he alleged.