Sukhu group skips Cong march in Shimla

Tribune News Service

Shimla, November 14

Congress leaders and workers today staged a protest march here, accusing the Jai Ram government of putting “Himachal on sale”.

They also accused the Modi government at the Centre of jeopardising the life of party leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Vadra by withdrawing their SPG cover.

The march that began from Rajeev Bhawan through Lower Bazaar reached the venue in front of the DC office. Factionalism came to the fore as former PCC president Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu and his supporters were absent for the second time. They did not attend the march at Hamirpur, his home district as well, revealed party sources.

Unfazed by the absence of the Sukhu group, Kaul Singh Thakur, a senior Congress leader from Mandi, Sudhir Sharma from Kangra, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal from Hamirpur, Congress leaders - Nana Patole, state observer, Rajni Patil, state party affairs in-charge, and Kuldeep Rathore, PCC president, launched attack against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur.

Addressing workers Patil said only the Congress could save the country from economic slowdown and the rising unemployment. “Dharamsala investors’ meet was a flop show. I met some delegates from Europe at the airport. They told me that they were shown mountains and nothing else,” she claimed.

Taking cognizance of the absence of Sukhu and his supporters from the protest, Patil made reference without taking names, saying that time had come to show such people the door.

AICC state observer Nana Patole said the Modi government was about to launch “gold bandi” after “note bandi”.

Terming the series of protests by Congress as a success, PCC president Kuldeep Singh Rathore alleged the law and order situation has deteriorated in the state under the BJP rule. The crime against women is on the rise and drug menace has assumed alarming stage in Himachal, he charged.