24SHIMLA, Oct 23: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Monday lashed out at his predecessor and BJP leader Jai Ram Thakur for “playing politics” during the natural calamity and said he “lacks courage” to demand special relief package from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Addressing a public meeting in Mandi, Sukhu said the Leader of Opposition in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly should have gone to Delhi along with BJP MLAs and demanded a special relief package for disaster-hit people from the prime minister and Home Minister Amit Shah, “but he failed”.
“Even now, he can ask for the special relief package from the PM if he has any self respect,” he said. “I went to Delhi twice and demanded a special relief package from the Prime Minister and the Home Minister but he (Thakur) remained reluctant,” Sukhu said.
Taking a jibe at Thakur, Sukhu said this is “not the time to play politics but to focus on relief and restoration and rehabilitation and there is enough time to play politics as the Lok Sabha elections are six months away”.
“The previous BJP government was so incompetent that it failed to get installment of Rs 315 crore under State Disaster Management Fund and we pursued the matter and got Rs 190 crore released,” Sukhu said. He alleged that ex-chief minister Thakur did not do anything for the development of Mandi and “focused only on his assembly constituency Seraj”.
He said the chief minister belongs to the entire state and not a particular district and asserted that the development of Mandi district would not be hampered. The BJP had won nine out 10 assembly seats from Mandi district in the 2022 assembly polls. (PTI)
Follow our WhatsApp channel
