Shimla
Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu today participated in the oath-taking ceremony of the three newly elected MLA’s Kamlesh Thakur, Hardeep Singh Bawa and Ashish Sharma. Speaker, H.P. Vidhan Sabha Kuldeep Singh Pathania administrated the oath to the MLA’s. The Chief Minister congratulated the newly elected MLAs on the occasion.
Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur, Deputy Speaker Vinay Kumar, Ministers and MLAs were also present on the occasion.
Later, while interacting with the media, Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said that the people of Himachal Pradesh have firmly rejected the politics of horse-trading. He said that a conspiracy had been hatched by the BJP to topple the elected government, resulting in Assembly by-elections. The Congress Party, he said, exposed the BJP’s conspiracy to the voters, who responded decisively in favour of the Congress Party.
The Chief Minister said that the Congress representation in the Assembly has again increased to 40 MLAs. He asked the BJP leaders to abandon negative politics and cooperate with the state government for the development of the State. He also asked the BJP to stop obstructing projects from the Union Government meant for the State in the larger interest of the people.
Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said that the state government had worked on a war footing during the disaster period last year, receiving global appreciation. Despite meetings with Prime Minister Narender Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the State has not received any assistance from the Center for disaster relief, he added.
Reiterating his commitment to lead the State on the path of speedy development with the people’s support, the Chief Minister said that the present Congress Government has created 28,000 job opportunities in the government sector alone, in contrast to the 20,000 jobs provided by the BJP Government during its full five years tenure, many of which were mired in legal complications.
Responding to a question, the Chief Minister criticized the previous BJP government for excessive borrowings without investing for development works. He said that the present government has to take loans to repay the interest on the inherited debt. Nevertheless, he said that the steps taken in the past year have improved the state’s economic condition by twenty percent.
The Chief Minister said that the Congress government will continue to work in the interest of the people relentlessly and make concerted efforts to make Himachal Pradesh self-reliant.