CM has lost right to continue after defeat in RS poll: Himachal LoP Jai Ram Thakur

Tribune News Service

Shimla, April 17

Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur today said Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has lost the moral right to continue in office after the Rajya Sabha defeat as it is a reflection on his leadership.

Addressing a press conference here today, he said even the Central leadership and Observers have admitted that it was the failure of the leadership to take along all the party legislators. “The CM should have stepped down by taking personal responsibility for the defeat and humiliation the party suffered in the Rajya Sabha election,” he remarked.

Thakur said various factions within the state Congress had conveyed to the party high command that there must be change of leadership in Himachal. “Probably the high command thought it wise to not change the leadership right now in view of the Lok Sabha elections. So all were told to wait for the parliamentary poll be over,” the former CM said.

Thakur said the Budget for 2024-25 could only be passed after the suspension of 15 BJP MLAs despite Congress having a majority in the Assembly. “With all poll surveys predicting that BJP will win 400 seats and will get 63 per cent votes in Himachal by winning all four Lok Sabha seats, Congress is rattled,” he said. He said the Congress government in Himachal would fall after the election results on June 4, he added.

The former Chief Minister said Congress was trying to scare the employees that if BJP won, the OPS would be withdrawn. “I want to make it clear that I do not believe in politics of vendetta like the Congress which closed over 1,000 institutions opened by us,” he said.

It is an open secret that the Chief Minister gave more importance to his friends and not elected representatives which should be the norm in a democracy, he added.

Thakur also hit out at the Chief Minister for trying to mislead women by stating that they will be given Rs 1500 from April. “On top of this, the Congress is trying to put the blame on the BJP for stopping this grant. But the reality is that neither was there any mention of the scheme in the Budget nor any budgetary allocation and it is only with an eye of Lok Sabha polls that he announced it in a haste,” said Thakur. The government should have given Rs 1,500 to women in the last 15 months, he added.

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#Jai Ram Thakur #Rajya Sabha #Shimla #Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu