Shanta, Dhumal take potshots at CM

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, March 22

Two seniormost BJP leaders Prem Kumar Dhumal and Shanta Kumar took a dig at the Congress today.

Dhumal said the Punjab Police had filed an affidavit in the Punjab and Haryana High Court saying Himachal was the source of drugs.

“It is for the first time that such an allegation has been made against a peaceful state like Himachal. The drug mafia flourished during the stint of Congress government. The state government should come out clean and counter the allegation publically as well as legally,” he alleged.

Dhumal said out of the 88 peons recruited by the present government in the Secretariat in the state capital, 38 were from Shimla. Only one person was from Chamba and three from Kangra district. The said recruitments illustrate bias of the Congress government against Kangra region.

On the declaration of Dharamsala as the second capital of the state, Dhumal said it was a political gimmick. “Though the decision has been taken to declare Dharamsala as the second capital, no budgetary provision has been made for creating infrastructure here. Besides, no orders have been issued to shift some government offices to Dharamsala that was mandatory for giving the second capital status,” he said.

Though the present state government has announced government colleges in the state, most are being run from government school buildings. This has made a mockery of higher education in the state.

Dhumal patted Kishan Kapoor, former minister and senior most BJP leader from Dharamsala, saying most development was the result of his efforts.

Shanta Kumar said it was for the first time that the Union government had started taxing the rich and passing on benefits on to the poor. “The Modi government has been carrying out development at the grass-roots level in the country and people are happy,” he said.

The BJP leader said the Union government wanted to give many projects to Himachal, but the state government was not submitting the proposals. The Union government had declared many national highways in the country, but the state had failed to submit their detailed project reports, Shanta Kumar said.

He said the Union government had approved the Pathankot-Mandi-Leh rail line. It would usher a new era of development for Himachal, he said.

Satpal Satti, state president of BJP, said the party leaders were going places to expose the mafia rule in Himachal. “The party is eyeing 60 Assembly segments in the next elections,” he said.

Kishan Kapoor said Dharamsala MLA Sudhir Sharma had failed to keep the poll promises.

The CUHP has not come up in Dharamsala. Kapoor said in case the Congress government was serious about the second capital status for Dharamsala, they should have held the Budget session.