On the completion of two-and-a-half years of the Congress Government in Himachal Pradesh, a rally was organised at Indira Gandhi Stadium in Una. Besides Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his Cabinet colleagues, AICC general secretary Ambika Soni was present on the occasion.The Chief Minister along-with Ambika Soni reached the venue in an open jeep with the people and cultural troupes from all over the State as far as Bharmour, Kullu, Kinnaur queued alongside the road making their way to the venue rejoicing and dancing thus making the occasion a historical one.
Soni said the message would be passed on to both UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi about mega celebration which was one of its kind where people in thousands kept sitting for hours together in the scorching heat.Virbhadra Singh said providing subsidised ration to the people is the responsibility of the State Government and the losses being suffered in distribution of subsidised ration was being borne by it. At present, Rs210 crore were being spent on this, he added.
He said 37 lakh people of the State were being provided Food Security under ‘Rajeev Gandhi Ann Yojna’ and soon, digital ration cards will be provided to the people. He also listed development activities of his Government in past two-and-a-half years going far ahead as was promised in election manifesto of the Congress.Taking a jibe at the NDA Government, the Chief Minister said that the tall promises that were made by the NDA have fallen flat. Their claims about bringing back the black money have failed and the NDA was at backfoot in fulfilling the promises made to the people as it had cheated the people as far as providing subsidy in various schemes under PDS was concerned.
Referring to Prem Kumar Dhumal, he said that it was rather astonishing that why the leader of opposition was always indulging in bickering and mudslinging. “I have learnt that when we were celebrating here, the BJP leaders were busy in Shimla handing over chargesheet against me to the secretary of the Governor,” he said, adding that they had nothing to do except to criticise. He also released a book showcasing development activities on completion of two-and-a-half years of the Government, a special edition of Giriraj weekly and a documentary, all published and prepared by department of Information and Public Relations.