In HP, Priyanka takes swipe at BJP’s double-engine poll pitch
HP is facing a ₹70kcr loan burden, govt staffers haven’t received Diwali bonus, HRTC employees haven’t got their salary, and they’re telling you to keep taking same pill, says Cong gen secy
DHARAMSHALA : In a veiled attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday said that while BJP is seeking votes in the “doubleengine” government, its leader has been calling Himachal and its people “Bimar” (ailing).
“BJP comes here, make false promises and also tells you that changing medicine (alternating government every 5 years) frequently doesn’t cure a disease,” said Gandhi addressing an election rally at Kangar in Haroli assembly segment, the home turf of the leader of opposition Mukesh Agnihotri.
Gandhi was referring to PM Modi, who in a rally in Sundernagar in Mandi last Saturday, had appealed to people to once again elect the BJP government stating that like keeping on changing medicine doesn’t cure a disease, Himachal has done its own harm by changing governments.
“Are you ailing? Is Himachal Pradesh ailing? See how they look at you. They are telling you to continue taking the same pill. Understand it. you are being misled,” she said.
Gandhi said, today, Himachal is facing a ₹70,000 crore loan burden, employees haven’t received Diwali bonus, HRTC employees haven’t got this month’s salary, and they are telling you to keep taking the same pill.
Maintaining that the November 12 election would decide the fate of the Himachal people, Gandhi said that employees have been demanding the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), but the BJP government has rejected it.
“If Congress-ruled states can restore OPS, why can’t in other states?” she asked, adding that BJP seeks votes in the name of a “double-engine” government, but where was this government for five years?
“Perhaps the BJP didn’t gas up the engine as it was selling oil to its industrialist friends,” said Gandhi.
She said, under the BJP, with its government at the centre and also in the state, it had all the resources but failed to give jobs to the youth. “63,000 posts are lying vacant in the state. And, when Congress says that it will take the decision to give 1 lakh jobs in the first cabinet, they say it can’t be done,” she alleged.
“If it can happen in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan why not here?” she asked.
Raking up the Agnipath scheme, Gandhi said it was a deceit on the youth and brave mothers of Himachal who send their sons to the border to protect the country. “Earlier, around 4,000 youth of Himachal would join the army annually, and under the new scheme it would be reduced to just 400500,” she alleged.
Teach BJP a lesson
Calling on people to cast votes based on their experience and analyses, Gandhi said while the Congress has worked on the principle of service and dedication, the BJP’s only objective is to grab power by hook or by crook.
If the BJP is using money power to win votes, Gandhi said, it is time for people to teach them a lesson.
Earlier, speaking at the rally, the leader of the opposition Mukesh Agnihotri alleged that BJP was bringing money in helicopters and liquor in ambulances to distribute among the voters. “Whatever they do, the BJP is certainly going to be thrown out of power in 96 hours,” he said, referring to November 12 polling in the state.
In his address, Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel cautioned the public to be aware of “Jumlaveer” and “Ghoshnaveer” who ‘betrayed’ the nation by implementing the Agnipath scheme and imposed a tax on almost everything.
Gandhi, a political tourist in HP: BJP
“Priyanka Gandhi’s rally in Haroli was scheduled at the last moment seeing that the leader of the opposition was losing his seat to the BJP. She failed to get any concrete response as she is a political tourist in the state with no mass or grassroots connection. She has failed miserably to galvanise the cadre in other states like Uttar Pradesh and Assam and is sure to repeat her performance in Himachal. The double-engine pro-development and welfare-oriented govt of the BJP is sure to return to power in the state,” said BJP spokesman Mohit Sood.