Himachal bypoll: BJP didn’t fulfil promises made in manifesto, says Anand Sharma

Our Correspondent

KULLU, OCTOBER 22

Former External Affairs Minister Anand Sharma today said that the Congress had many able leaders in various states, including Himachal, and at the Centre and the party does not need a certificate from the BJP in this regard.

Sharma, while addressing mediapersons here, said, “A leader should not only be campaigning but he or she should also be able to carry out development in the area. People are aware of the difference between rhetoric and visible work on the ground”.

He said that the BJP had not fulfilled the promises made in its election manifesto. The party had gained power in the name of reducing unemployment and inflation but these had instead doubled during its regime. “The BJP had promised that factor-2 would be implemented for giving four-time compensation for land acquisition for the national highways in Himachal but it went back on its promise. The tourism industry has become weak not because of Covid but due to the bad policies of the government,” he added.

The Congress star campaigner said that people sufferred due to the mismanagement of the Covid crisis by the government. The packages announced by the government were a hoax and no income support was given to those who lost their livelihood. No incentive was given to the industry and no help was given those dependent on the tourism industry, he added.

“The Central Government has a reserve of 600 billion dollars and we told it to give 50 billion dollars to the people to revive the economy but it was unconcerned about the plight of the people,” he said.

Sharma said that the Congress workers were going to people to apprising them of the false promises made by the BJP and development done during the Congress regimes. He added that the public response showed that the Congress candidate for the Mandi byelection Pratibha Singh would win with a huge margin. There was a lot of scope of development in tourism, horticulture and power sectors in the state.

Former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said that just promises were made to farmers, the poor and unemployed youths and nothing had been done on the ground. “The poor have become poorer. The government is giving no package to help the tourism sector, which is the backbone of the economy of Himachal,” he added.

Hooda said each section of society was frustrated with the government. Pratibha had remained Mandi MP twice earlier and she was experienced to carry out development in the region.