With elections in the State less than a year away, the BJP is trying to score brownie points on the ruling Congress due to the dissidence within the ruling party in the State.
Training guns on the Congress, BJP leader and Hamirpur MP, Anurag Thakur said that Himachal Pradesh Transport Minister Bali has admitted that Congress backtracked from its poll promise of giving unemployment allowance to unemployed youngsters in the State.
less than a week after, G S Bali was found missing from the dais with Rahul Gandhi on the occasion of Congress celebration of completion of 4 years of its in rule in Dharamsala, BJP is taking pot shots at the Congress.
In just about two days, three senior BJP leaders have tried to cash in on the situation by dubbing its rival party autocratic and misleading people with false promises. The BJP is trying to sharpen the fault lines within the Congress.
Thakur said that GS Bali, Transport, Technical Education, Vocational & Industrial Training Minister, himself went on record and admitted that the Government had failed in providing unemployment allowance to youth in Himachal, as promised in the election manifesto in 2012. Congress had promised to give an unemployment allowance of Rs 1000 per month to the unemployed youth in the state.
He said “Bali has put forth a request in front of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh to make the unemployment allowance available and thereby fulfill the poll promise as the Assembly polls are approaching. This goes to prove that Congress only cares about polls & their own interest and public welfare is least on their priority list.”
Just a day back, Himachal BJP President, Satpal Singh Satti and BJP state spokeperson Rajiv Bindal had taken pot shots at Congress for the treatment meted out to Bali at the Maharally organised by Congress to celebrate completion of 4 years rule in the state at Dharamshala.
Referring to the incident, Bindal said refusal to permit Bali to sit on the dais by SPG commando was indecent. Satti had said that disallowing a cabinet colleague to share dais on such an occasion had been a clear indication of fierce infighting in the ruling party.
Observing it to be an internal matter of Congress, Satti had said that though it was ruling party’s internal matter but indecent behaviour meted out to a cabinet rank minister explains the arrogance of State party leadership.
Blaming Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh for the fiasco, Satti said that it was not first instance in Congress, senior Congress leader Anand Sharma had also borne similar humiliation in the past.