HP govt splurged Rs 25 crore on 2-year celebrations despite financial crunch : LoP

Photo: SNS


Leader of Opposition and former Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur slammed the Congress government for “splurging “more than Rs 25 crore in celebrating its two-year tenure despite the state facing financial crunch.

Addressing media persons here on Thursday, he claimed that it was the first time in the history of the state the government did not have a single achievement to tell.“The two-year tenure is a document of the government’s failures,” he charged, claiming that even the national Congress leaders chose to avoid the celebrations of the state government which is a proof of dismal performance.

Taking a dig at Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri, he said that the outburst against the opposition and the bureaucracy is nothing short of frustration for being sidelined by his own government.“The Deputy Chief Minister who also holds the portfolio of Transport Minister should resign as the HRTC pensioners have not received their pension. They are often seen either protesting or threatening to protest. Last month on November 12, HRTC pensioners were protesting for the release of their pension. If their pension was not stopped then why were they protesting,” he questioned.

He said that the practice of threatening officers and journalists from the stage is not ending in the Congress .“They want to scare the officers and employees who raise their voice by giving them notices of breach of privilege and show cause notices. However, the people of the state are not going to be scared by their threats. Journalists are being openly told from the stage that they should assume that the government will run for the full five years,” he claimed, advocating the government to refrain from threatening the people as the state will be run by democracy and not by the threats of Congress.

“With factionalism at its peak in Congress, it is a divided house, although the number of factions in which Congress is divided is unclear, as every leader was trying to show his power during the rally marking the celebration of the two-years of government,” he claimed.

“The state government should answer the questions of the opposition and the allegations of corruption being leveled against them. The report submitted to the Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla by BJP, all the allegations have been given with proper documents. The government should come forward and get those cases investigated and punish whoever is guilty, otherwise it will be considered that all this is happening at the behest of the government,” said Thakur.