Himachal Pradesh former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal has predicted that the days of Congress led UPA Government were numbered in the wake of anti-Congress wave sweeping across the country.
While addressing a press conference here, he said the UPA Government had brought the country on the brink of bankruptcy as during its tenure unemployment, inflammation and corruption had assumed alarming proportions.
In a rejoinder to the unfounded and allegations of the Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh that the Congress Government had inherited from the BJP a crippled administration and empty exchequer, Dhumal advised Virbhadra to once again refresh his failing memory by going through the CAG report presented in the Vidhan Sabha on April 9, 2013, which reflected surplus of Rs6.40 crore and fiscal deficit of less that 3 percent.
The CAG report had appreciated and lauded the financial management of the BJP Government.
Dhumal also advised the Chief Minister to refrain from misleading the public by making false and baseless statements.
Ridiculing the hue and cry raised by Virbhadra Singh and other Congress leaders over the misuse of Section 118 of HP Revenue Act by selling the interests of Himachal Pradesh, Dhumal said that let the Congress face the stark facts and give explanation to the people of the State.
We permitted the sale of only 713 bighas of private land (and not an inch of Government land) during our tenure of 7 years, while the Congress in a solitary case of the Himalayan Ski village had allowed the sale of 6000 bighas of private land and 60,000 hectares of forest land besides numerous water sources and channels blatantly sacrificing the prime interests of the tribal people of the State, he further added.
Congress has virtually made a mockery of Section 118 by depriving the people of their potential of self-employment, he alleged.
Dhumal also questioned the wisdom of the Chief Minister for not attending the conference of Chief Ministers held in New Delhi on the crucial question of internal security and deputing Health Minister, Thakur Kaul Singh to attend it.