Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) [India], November 14 : The Leader of Opposition and former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Saturday warned the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led Congress government to get ready to exit power, alleging that it had failed to fulfil its pre-election guarantees and was now attempting to mislead people by announcing selective benefits in the final year of its tenure.
Addressing the media in Shimla, Thakur said the Congress government had remembered its election guarantees only after four years, with the state Cabinet recently approving Rs 1,500 monthly financial assistance for 3.5 lakh women, 300 units of free electricity for eligible households and Rs 10 lakh insurance coverage.
Questioning the limited coverage of the women's assistance scheme, Thakur said the Congress had promised Rs 1,500 per month to all women aged between 18 and 60 years ahead of the 2022 Assembly elections. However, the government had now restricted the benefit to just 3.5 lakh women, despite the state having approximately 28 lakh women in this age group.
"Congress had promised Rs 1,500 per month to every woman between 18 and 60 years of age. After four years, the government has decided to extend the benefit to only 3.5 lakh women. Why have the remaining women been excluded? The government is trying to mislead the people in the election year. The Congress government should now get ready to leave power because the BJP's return to power and Congress's exit are certain," Thakur said.
He claimed that under the Congress guarantee, every eligible woman was entitled to Rs 72,000 for the four years during which the government had failed to implement the promise. Calculating the cumulative liability on this basis, he put the government's outstanding commitment at approximately Rs 20,000 crore.
Thakur further said that even if the benefit was restricted to 3.5 lakh women, the government would require around Rs 625 crore annually. He questioned the financial arrangements for implementing the scheme, alleging that no adequate provision had been made in the state budget.
The Leader of Opposition also accused the Congress government of diluting its promise of 300 units of free electricity, saying that the guarantee was originally made for middle-class households but had now been restricted to 3.5 lakh families.
He also raised questions over other Congress guarantees, including the minimum support price (MSP) for milk, control of drug abuse, corruption and what he termed the government's attempts to "sell Himachal Pradesh".
Thakur said the BJP would raise all these issues during the upcoming winter session of the state Assembly and hold the government accountable for its unfulfilled promises.
"The state has entered an election year, and people are now seeking an account of every guarantee made by the Congress. The party has lied to the people and even to its own legislators. When the BJP returns to power, we will review the Congress government's first year in office as well as the implementation of all its guarantees," he said.
Reacting to the registration of an FIR against BJP MP Kangana Ranaut over her social media posts concerning the Gandhi family, Thakur said everyone had the right to express their views in a democracy.
He said Ranaut had expressed her personal opinion and accused the Sukhu government of attacking freedom of expression by registering cases against people who criticised it.
Thakur alleged that hundreds of cases had been registered against people in the state over their social media activities. He claimed that while social media pages associated with the Congress regularly made serious remarks against BJP leaders at the state and national levels, complaints filed by the BJP did not receive similar attention.
"Law should be equal for everyone. If action is being taken against people for expressing their views, the same standards must apply to everyone, irrespective of their political affiliation," he said.
Asked about the book by Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, Thakur said he had gone through reviews published by some reputed media organisations, which, according to him, had raised questions about the factual accuracy of several claims made in the book.
He alleged that the book was being used as an attempt to promote Rahul Gandhi politically and generate sympathy for him.