The Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) has strongly criticized the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh for allegedly working against its guarantees.

The party has blamed the Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu government of burdening the common man of the state with its decision to increase utility costs and new taxes.

BJP leaders Rakesh Jamwal, Sanjay Sharma, Sandeepni Bhardwaj, Vinod Thakur in a joint statement here on Tuesday attacked the state government sharply and said that instead of managing its own expenses, the state government is shifting the financial strain onto the public, particularly those dependent on MANREGA wages.

Alleging the Sukhu government of the state for making life difficult for the common man, they said that the instead of fulfilling its responsibility it is imposing arbitrary decisions on the people.

“The Sukhu government is imposing financial burden, one after another on the people for the comfort of  their friends. Instead of giving relief to the common man in this era of inflation, it is bent on making his life miserable,” they charged.

They pointed out that with 80 percent of the state’s population living in the rural areas, imposing additional water and electricity charges is unjustifiable.

After first imposing the burden of electricity bills on the pockets of the common man, now the burden of drinking water bills has been imposed, they stated.

MLA Rakesh Jamwal said that the central government had provided free taps to every house through the former Jai Ram Thakur led BJP – government under the ‘Har Ghar Jal, Har Ghar Nal’ scheme, now the Sukhu government is going to collect tax on the free taps.

“Even in urban areas, the water tariff has been increased tremendously and the prices have been made so high that it seems as if the government is going to supply mineral water to the public through the taps,” said he, while taking a dig at the Sukhu government.

This will put an additional financial burden on those who earn their living with great difficulty, in this era of unemployment, he rued.

Furthermore the government that guaranteed 300 units of free electricity is trying  to revoke the previous BJP government’s provisions for 125 units of free electricity will add to the financial pressure on the families struggling with rising inflation.

The BJP leaders contended that the public is growing increasingly frustrated with what they view as anti-people policies.

They said that if these issues persisted it will lead to significant repercussions for the Congress government and in future elections the party will not be able to even touch the double digit.