HP BJP lying on Sukhu govt's guarantees: Congress

Shimla, Nov 5 (IANS) The ruling Congress in Himachal Pradesh on Tuesday hit out at the Opposition BJP for pursuing politics of falsehood with Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s Principal Media Advisor Naresh Chauhan accusing Leader of Opposition Jairam Thakur of spreading canards on the government's guarantees for the people.

“Jairam Thakur is making false and unsubstantiated remarks about the government’s performance to attract attention and make headlines just before organisational rejig in BJP,” Chauhan told IANS.

Chauhan’s comments come amid a political war of words over the Congress-led government’s claim on starting work on five of its promised 10 guarantees in the first 20 months of its tenure and the Opposition BJP accusing the government of failure on all fronts.

“I can’t understand why Jairam Thakur starts making baseless allegations just before elections in other states. Earlier, there were elections in Haryana and J&K, now polls are scheduled in Maharashtra and Jharkhand,” he said.

Claiming that the Sukhu government has already started delivering on five guarantees, Thakur’s Principal Media Advisor said the BJP leader was adamant about spreading falsehood over the guarantees given by the Congress government.

“Can he deny that Himachal Pradesh has become the first state to offer the old pension scheme to its employees; can he say that government employees in the state are not benefitting from the OPS?” asked Chauhan.

Thakur, earlier this week, alleged that the Himachal Pradesh government had failed to deliver on its promises and pushed the state into a debt trap. “The government’s only significant achievement in its 22 months of rule is taking a loan of Rs 25,000 crore,” he said.

The ruling Congress and the Opposition BJP have crossed swords in the backdrop of the Sukhu government’s advertisements highlighting measures taken in the first 20 months of the regime to fulfil five guarantees, out of the 10 promised before the Assembly election.

The advertisements are aimed at highlighting the Cabinet's decision to approve the introduction of OPS for 1.36 lakh government employees; Rs 1,500 monthly financial assistance to women above 18 years of age; the launch of Rs 689 crore start-up scheme for purchasing e-taxis and installation of solar panels and incentives for promoting organic farming and purchase of milk at MSP.

--IANS

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