‘Change tradition of electing Independent or Opposition candidate’: Sukhvinder Sukhu seeks votes for Hardeep Bawa

Solan, July 1

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu today said that BJP candidate KL Thakur, who had resigned from the Assembly as an Independent MLA and was now contesting the Nalagarh byelection, had defamed himself in the process. Sukhu addressed several election meetings in the support of Congress candidate Hardeep Bawa at Kirpalpur, Ramshahar, Nand, Swarghat and Gurukund in the Nalagarh Assembly segment.

The Chief Minister said, “There is a Congress government in the state for the past 18 months. People should vote for the development of Nalagarh. There is a tradition in Nalagarh that the MLA either belongs to the Opposition or is an Independent candidate. This tradition should be changed and Bawa from the ruling party should be given an opportunity to represent the constituency. This will transform this industrial belt.”

He alleged that KL Thakur had sold his conscience to the BJP though the Congress government had done all works put forth by him. He had stabbed the Congress government in the back, he said. “KL Thakur’s greed led him to sell his conscience. All three former Independent MLAs, who are contesting the byelections on the BJP ticket, are not honest leaders of the opposition party,” he added.

“During the Rajya Sabha elections, six Congress MLAs had betrayed the party and voted for the BJP candidate. The BJP had bought their support. The Budget was to be passed the next day after the Rajya Sabha elections but the six Congress MLAs remained absent from the Assembly,” he added.

He alleged that the previous BJP government had cheated the public during its five-year tenure. “Jai Ram Thakur as Chief Minister looked the other way while recruitment exam papers were being sold in the Himachal Pradesh Staff Selection Commission (HPSSC), Hamirpur. After assuming power, we shut the door to corruption,” he added.

Sukhu alleged that the six Congress and three former Independent MLAs also faced the heat due to the government’s tough stand against corruption. “An attempt was made to topple our government. Jai Ram Thakur and the sold-out MLAs tried their best, but we along with 34 MLAs did not allow the operation lotus to succeed,” he added.

The Chief Minister urged people to vote for Bawa. He said that the BJP had imposed the byelections on the state. People had elected KL Thakur as an Independent MLA for five years but he betrayed their faith, he added. He resigned within 14 months of being elected under pressure of the BJP, Sukhu alleged.

Meanwhile, Bawa said, “Nalagarh needs an MLA who will serve the constituency the whole tenure and not a turncoat. I will work wholeheartedly for the people of the constituency.”