Govt biased against segments represented by BJP MLAs: Satti

Una MLA Satpal Singh Satti today accused the state government of unleashing vendetta and discriminating against the Assembly constituencies represented by BJP legislators.

Satti, while addressing mediapersons here, said that the Congress government was discriminating against the constituencies represented by BJP legislators. He asked the government to ensure uniform development in every Assembly constituency and not to discriminate against the segments represented by BJP legislators.

He cited an incident of public outrage at Seraj during the visit of Revenue and Horticulture Minister Jagat Singh Negi and said that being a responsible person, Negi should have acted with patience when he visited the flashflood- devastated constituency yesterday. “The distasteful remarks made by the Revenue Minister about the rain disaster in Seraj enraged people, who expressed their resentment on Friday. Now, an FIR has been registered against 60 protesters, who along with their family members are being threatened,” he added.

Satti alleged that rather than providing relief to the disaster-hit people of Seraj, the district administration was threatening and targeting the protesters and their families. He added that this kind of behaviour was condemnable and Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu should immediately intervene in the matter.

The Una MLA opposed the decision of the state government to shift Horticulture College from Thunag in Mandi, calling it a politically-motivated step. “It was in 2022 that former Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur had laid the foundation stone of Horticulture College and 205 bighas were approved and its detailed project report was prepared. After the Congress formed government in the state in 2023, there had been no headway and all construction work had come to a halt,” he alleged.

Satti said that though the Chief Minister and the Horticulture Minister had given assurances on the floor of the Assembly that the college would neither be shifted nor closed, a decision had been taken to shift it. “The Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu government had started its tenure by closing around 1,000 institutions in a dictatorial manner and against public interest, a trend which is continuing,” he lamented.

He said that no damage had been caused to Horticulture College but still the government had decided to shift it. It would be unfortunate if the government acted in a vindictive manner and shifted the college elsewhere, he added.

Satti also expressed concern over the recent cases of cows being found in oil tankers, including one dead, at Swarghat and Nagrota Bagwan.