War of words between Himachal Cong, BJP over poll guarantees

A war of words erupted between the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) when the latter accused the former of “breach of trust”, during the debate on the motion of thanks to the governor’s address.

BJP’s Una MLA Satpal Singh Satti, lashing out at Congress, said, “They (Congress) made governor read lies which is breach of trust”. He said that Congress is misleading and lying regarding fulfilling six guarantees even when the government had failed to fulfill even one guarantee.

MLA Satti, while talking about the guarantee of giving ₹1,500 to women, said that during the elections the Congress promised that the amount would be given to women in the first cabinet meeting, but now it is being talked about implementing it in a phased manner. He said that the word “phased” was not used anywhere during the election campaign, but as soon as it came to power, the definition changed.

He also targeted the condition of the Jal Shakti department and took a jibe at deputy chief minister Mukesh Agnihotri. Taking jibe at Congress, Satti said, “The address should have mentioned the things that the government has actually achieved, but instead false claims were given priority. He alleged that the biggest “achievement” of the state government is that the treasury is closed due to which employees are facing difficulties in withdrawing salaries. The government closed 1,400 institutions, abolished the Sahara scheme and increased the fee on registrations.

In response to a question raised by Satti, the government confirmed that 1,436 cases under the Shagun scheme and 297 cases under Mukhyamantri Kanyadan Yojana are still pending.

Responding to the allegations of the opposition, cabinet minister Chander Kumar said Congress party has five years mandate and will fulfil each guarantee. “We restored OPS to the employees, BJP had done injustice with them.” “We have to fulfil the guarantees, not you (BJP), and we will do it,” said Kumar.

Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur said the government is lying. He said the government made the governor lie. He said that the government should have accepted in the address that it will take 5 years to fulfil the guarantees, but instead, false claims were made.

“The government should stop lying. They have not fulfilled even a single guarantee,” said Thakur while adding that the “voice of opposition cannot be suppressed”.