Himachal Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh on Tuesday said that it was wrong practice by the Governor of Manipur and Goa not to invite the single largest party to form the Government but horse-trading was done by the BJP to form the Government thus defeating the very purpose of democracy.
“This was the greatest threat to the country and democracy in time to come, he said, adding that the monopoly by few people was not in the interest of the country.
The democratic norms had been thrown aside by the ruling Union Government, alleged the Chief Minister while addressing public gathering at Dharamsaal Mantaan in Chintpurni assembly constituency.
He added, “We have to stand united for a strong Nation and not indulge in such tactics.”
Virbhadra Singh said, “As far as Himachal Pradesh was concerned, the BJP was unnecessary blaming the Government for delaying the preparations of detailed project reports and starting work of 61 national highways as announced by Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, but they fail to understand, rather did not want to understand that the funds required for preparations of DPRs had not been received from the Centre.”
No matter, announcements were made by the Union Government, but the process of clearances takes time and over and above, the contracts were given by Union Ministry of National Highways and not the State Government, he said.
“However, I am grateful to the Union government for sanctioning 61 national highways for the state,” he said.
The Chief Minister said the State Government could start work on the state roads but the work on the roads announced by the Union Government had to be taken up by them and not the State Government.
He said that BJP leaders were misguiding the people that the state was not starting works on the roads forgetting, that not the state, but the Centre had to start the work on same. Merely to make announcements was easy, but the onus lies on the Central government to carry out the work of roads as announced by Union Minister, he added.
Virbhadra Singh said that the thrust of the present government was on providing education to all and to assure that the enrolment of students increase in education institutions. Today, there were as many as 117 colleges in the state mostly in far flung areas to cater to educational needs of the youth especially the girl child, he said.