Shimla, Sept 15: Himachal Pradesh ministers Harshwardhan Chauhan and Rohit Thakur on Sunday lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his statement on the Congress-ruled state’s economic condition, calling his remarks “misleading and unfortunate”.
In a joint press statement, the ministers said BJP leaders tricked the prime minister into lying on a national platform by presenting a faux picture of the state’s economy.
“Relying on misleading information fed by state BJP leaders, the prime minister has made unfortunate statements about Himachal’s economy,” the ministers said.
It would have been better if the BJP leaders made efforts for the release of the disaster relief fund of Rs 10,000 crore pending with the Centre, they added.
“However, the opposition leaders seem interested in pursuing the politics of hate and negativity,” the ministers said.
Addressing a rally in poll-bound Haryana, Modi on Saturday said the Congress came to power in Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana by making false promises, and “destroyed” the states which used to be prosperous.
Responding to the claims, the ministers alleged that Himachal Pradesh’s economy was at its lowest because of the wrong policies adopted by the previous BJP dispensation.
“Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur adopted politics of appeasement during the last few months of his regime in order to repeat his government. He introduced freebies and opened more than 900 institutions without any budgetary provision or requirement, which resulted in a huge burden on the state’s exchequer,” they said.
“All of this was done for political gains but the intellectual voters of the state outright rejected the BJP and gave a mandate to the Congress to form a government,” the Congress leaders further said.
Chauhan, the industries minister, and Education Minister Thakur said the Congress government inherited a debt of more than Rs 85,000 crore from the previous BJP dispensation.
The debt legacy included loan of more than Rs 75,000 crore and Rs 10,000 crore as pending payments, including dearness allowance and arrears, of state employees, they claimed.
“Our government has implemented various reforms to reduce the dependency on loans. There is no financial crisis in the state. The government is ushering Himachal Pradesh into self-reliance and a most progressive state,” the ministers said.
Modi said during Saturday’s rally in Haryana, “In your neighbourhood is Himachal. The Congress came to power there two years ago. What is the situation there? No citizen of Himachal is happy today. The Congress spoke lies and did not fulfil its promises.”
“Government employees have to go on strike for salaries. They are not getting their dearness allowances. Recruitments are not taking place… they have to close schools and colleges. They promised Rs 1,500 to every woman. The women continue to wait. Power, water, petrol, diesel, milk have become dearer in Himachal,” he had said.
