Dharamsala, May 7
In a joint statement issued here, Congress ministers, including Chandra Kumar, Minister for Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, Yadvinder Goma, Minister for Ayush and Sports, Kishori Lal and Ashish Butail, Chief Parliamentary Secretary, today condemned the statement of senior BJP leader and former CM Shanta Kumar. In a statement that was published on Tuesday Shanta Kumar had reportedly said that Anand Sharma, former union minister and now Congress candidate from Kangra parliamentary constituency, was not connected to ground level politics in Himachal. The Congress leaders said that the statement of Shanta Kumar was unfortunate and baseless.
The Congress ministers said that a leader of the stature of Shanta Kumar should refrain from making such comments.
Congress ministers said that Anand Sharma, as a Union minister, had given many development projects to Himachal Pradesh, including the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) in Kangra, Tea Board Regional Office, Palampur, Industrial Park at Indora in Kangra district, Regional Passport Office of Himachal Pradesh, Shimla, and the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), Shimla. He also gave PEDA centres, community buildings, mahila mandal bhawans, yuva mandal bhawans, Himachal Pradesh Court library to the state. There are some of the projects which he ensured on the demand of the people of Himachal, they said.
The ministers further said that this election was about the development of Kangra and Anand Sharma had shown that he was capable of protecting the interests of Kangra.
Anand Sharma has remained as Union Minister of External Affairs, Commerce in the Central Government. He has headed many big and important departments like industry and textile. In all these departments, Himachal registered immense development during his stint as a Union minister. “We will make him an MP of Kangra and send him to Delhi so that the issues of Kangra can be raised boldly in the Lok Sabha,” the Congress ministers said.
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