Graft, price rise to be issues in Himachal bypolls: Congress leader Kuldeep Rathore

Hamirpur, September 30

The Congress will win the byelections to the Mandi Lok Sabha seat and three Assembly constituencies, as people are fed up with the state government, said HPCC president Kulddeep Rathore here today. He added that corruption, poor law and order and inflation would be major issues in the byelections.

He said that the Congress would also raise the issues of unemployment and the appointment of people from other states in various government departments. He added that it was unfortunate that while the youth was struggling to get jobs, the government was hiring people from other states.

Rathore said that the state was reeling under a heavy debt and the Congress would demand a White Paper on the poor financial conditions. He added that it was not wrong to take loan for development but the misuse of funds had led to the debt to mount to over Rs 85,000 crore.

He said that the Congress had improved its position in the state as the BJP had failed to fulfil the expectations of the people, especially the poor, needy and farmers. He added that apple producers had been badly affected due to the wrong policies of the government. The party would win the byelections to the Mandi parliamentary seat and the Arki, Jubbal-Kotkhai and Fatehpur Assembly constituencies with a big margin.

Rathore said that the applications of all ticket aspirants would be sent to the party top leadership for the finalisation of the candidates. Not only the byelections, the Congress was also fully prepared for the Assembly elections due next year, he added. — OC