BJP Alleges Misuse of Power by Himachal CM Amid Election Tensions

In a fiery exchange, Union Minister Anurag Thakur accused Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu of baseless allegations and misuse of power. Thakur claimed the CM has failed to move beyond student politics and has misled voters amidst a strong BJP wave. The BJP also lodged an official complaint with the Election Commission regarding alleged misuse of its name by the CM.

The Congress has already accepted its defeat in Himachal Pradesh as is reflected in the statements of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, Union minister Anurag Thakur said on Wednesday.

''Till date, Sukhu has not been able to rise above student politics and does not talk like a chief minister,'' said the BJP leader, who addressed several election meetings in various parts of his Hamirpur parliamentary constituency.

Voting in four Lok Sabha seats in Himachal Pradesh will take place on June 1. Bye-elections in six assembly seats will take place on the same day.

''The chief minister is in panic seeing the BJP wave in Himachal in favour and is making baseless allegations against the BJP candidate from Barsar assembly seat,'' said Thakur, who is seeking re-election from Hamirpur.

The CM had earlier said that Rs 55 lakh was recovered in Barsar but ''never shared any evidence of allegation made by him and the amount so mentioned has not been deposited in the state's treasury. Moreover, the administration and police have no information about where this money was found and who got it'', Thakur said.

Meanwhile, the BJP also lodged a complaint with the Chief Electoral Officer in Shimla in this regard.

In its complaint, the BJP alleged that the CM had made an allegation that Rs 55 lakh was recovered from a hotel in the Barsar assembly constituency a few days back and termed it ''false, imaginary, concocted and defamatory to mislead the voters''.

The complaint said the Election Commission (EC) and its name are being ''misused'' by the CM.

It is now for the EC to clarify publicly as to whether any such alleged recovery was made or not, the BJP said and sought strict action against Sukhu.

Thakur said the chief minister has realised that the Congress is going to face a crushing defeat in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and by-elections in Himachal Pradesh, due to which all Congress leaders are levelling ''false and baseless allegations''.

He said that by such acts and speeches, the Congress is only trying to ''pollute the political environment and divert the attention of the public''.

He alleged that the Congress government has only cheated the public in the past 16 months.

''The mothers and sisters of Himachal are still waiting for their Rs 1,500 per month. Youths are waiting for 5 lakh jobs and families are waiting for 300 units of free electricity promised by the Congress,'' he said.

Thakur urged the party cadre to remain united and manage their booths in a proper manner to ensure maximum turnout as the target of the BJP was cent per cent polling.

The Union minister also alleged that the Sukhu government did not properly utilise the aid sent by the Centre in the aftermath of the 2023 floods.

''We got 16,206 houses sanctioned for the state under (Pradhan Mantri) Awas Yojana and 2,700 km of roads at a cost of Rs 2,373 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana and the PM gave financial assistance to the tune of Rs 1,782 crore to Himachal Pradesh. But the Sukhu government could not properly utilise the aid sent by the Centre during the monsoon disaster as the Congress leaders were preoccupied with benefiting their people,'' Thakur said.

''Considering Himachal his second home, the PM personally communicated with the chief minister, assessed the situation, and ensured all necessary help while I personally stayed in the disaster-affected areas of Himachal for several days and BJP national president J P Nadda extensively toured the entire area,'' he said.

Meanwhile, former HP chief minister and senior BJP leader Prem Kumar Dhumal said that the central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has helped twenty crore people to come out of poverty.

''Whereas the Congress, which has been raising the slogan of 'Garibi Hatao' in the country for five generations, is now singing the tune of making a list of the poor,'' he said.

In a statement issued here, he said that Congress has a history of making ''false lists'' to fool the people to grab power.

''In 2003, lists were made to give jobs to every household, in 2012 lists were made to give unemployment allowance to every youth,'' he claimed.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)