3 August 2025, Shimla: Former Union Minister and MP from Hamirpur Lok Sabha constituency, Anurag Singh Thakur, while opposing the decision of the Congress government to start the lottery again in Himachal Pradesh, said that the current Congress government first pushed the state towards economic distress and now, through the lottery, they are trying to ruin families.
Anurag Singh Thakur said, “Ever since the present Congress government came to power in Himachal Pradesh, it has troubled the land of Gods by taking one anti-people decision after another. The economic policies of the Congress government have brought the state to the brink of economic ruin and due to its economic mismanagement, Himachal is today in debt for more than one lakh crore rupees. The innocent people and families of Himachal are the target of this careless Congress government. By starting the lottery again in Himachal, this government wants to ruin the students, youth, shopkeepers, and working people. Restarting the lottery is playing with the economic interests of the people. This government, which is running without any vision and in the absence of economic policies, is trying to loot people’s homes to fill its treasury.”
Anurag Singh Thakur said, “Earlier, due to the ill effects of the lottery in Himachal, many families were ruined and that is why it was stopped. But restarting it by the Congress government is very unfortunate. Instead of giving jobs to the youth, this government is making them buy and sell lottery tickets. This autocratic government should remember that in 1998, Dhumal ji became the Chief Minister of the state for the first time, and in the next year, 1999, the BJP government stopped the entire lottery system in Himachal Pradesh. In 2004, the Congress government started the lottery again, but the then Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh ji, understanding its ill effects, put a complete ban on this lottery system. The government should think in this direction so that the salaries of employees, savings of youth, pensions of retirees, and the money of laborers remain safe and are useful for them and their families, and the decision to start lottery in the public interest should be withdrawn.”
