Senior BJP leader and former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal on Sunday came out heavily on the Virbhadra Singh Government for having brought the economy of the hill State on the brink of bankruptcy.
Addressing a news conference at the Circuit House, he accused the Chief Minister of indulging in extravagance and wasting his time in laying foundation stones and doing inaugurations of works started by the BJP Government and about 80 to 90 per cent completed when Congress came to power. Virbhadra Singh was claiming credit for the development done during the tenure of BJP. All development had come to a grinding halt or confined to a few powerful ministers.
Dhumal regretted that the outbreak of jaundice has assumed alarming proportions in many parts of the State.
“It was a matter of great shame for the Congress Government which had miserably failed to provide clean potable water even to the residents of the capital of the State which was reeling under the worst time since independence. Many people had died of this epidemic. Jaundice was spreading to other parts of the state which seemed to be helpless,” he said, demanding immediate resignation of the Chief Minister.
The former chief minister lamented that the condition of the roads had been worsening and hundreds of people had died in accidents due to bad roads during the Congress misrule in the State. An army of retired officials faithful to the Chief Minister and defeated politicians have be rehabilitated with cabinet ranks to run the Government.
To cover up his dismal failures Virbhadra Singh was spreading canards to mislead the people by saying that adequate funds were not being provided by the Centre. Dhumal said during the 2012-17 tenure of the BJP Centre provided Rs21,000 crore for the development of the State while during the current tenure of Congress Government, Modi Government has given Rs43,000 crore. Similarly the share of central taxes has also been enhanced from 32 per cent to 42 per cent, he added.
Dhumal said the Congress Government has not even thanked Modi Government for restoring the special economic package to Himachal Pradesh which the former Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, had granted to the poor hill State and Manmohan Singh Prime Minister of Congress party had withdrawn it. The Niti Ayog, substitute of Planning Commission, had further granted additional package of Rs650 crore to Himachal on the request of Himachal MPS and state leaders.
He further charged the Congress Government for promoting various mafias including forests, mines and sand. A large scale illicit felling has been reported during the recent months in the constituencies of powerful ministers including the forest minister. Forests have been destroyed even in the outskirts of Shimla and nefarious attempts were being made to protect the offenders, he alleged.