Hindustan Times (Patiala)

Lotus will bloom again in HP: Irani

- HT Correspond­ent letterschd@hindustant­imes.com

SHIMLA : Union minister for women and child developmen­t Smriti Irani on Friday made a scathing attack on Congress and its leader Rahul Gandhi.

Irani addressed the party’s “Trident Sammelan” at the Kangra’s Chambi ground. The event was organised to brace up the cadres for the assembly elections. She castigated the Congress and accused it of hampering the developmen­t of the state.

“If Congress wanted, it could have brought major institutes like AIIMS and IIM to Himachal, but it didn’t want to do this. Finally, Prime Minister Narendra Modi did it,” she said.

Irani described the Atal tunnel in Rohtang as a gift of Modi to Himachal. She said the BJP broke the precedence set by the Congress regime. “Hampering developmen­tal works had become a tradition during the Congress regime but our government changed it. Our party will change one more precedence in the state that is the BJP will achieve the mission repeat this time. The lotus will bloom again in Himachal,” she said.

Takes a jibe at Gandhi family

She took a jibe at the Gandhi family. “There is a family in the Congress which does not know whether they are in Delhi, Europe or Italy,” she said.

“Whenever there was a calamity, the Congress tried to mislead. It’s only the BJP that stood with countrymen during the crisis,” she said referring to the pandemic.

Jai Ram lists his govt’s achievemen­ts

The state government has accorded top priority to the health and social welfare sectors. During the regime of the previous government, the age limit for availing the benefit of an oldage pension was 80 years. The present government after assuming the office in its first cabinet meeting reduced the age limit to 70 years, chief minister Jai Ram Thakur while addressing the gathering said.

He said the age limit for oldage pension had now been curtailed to 60 years.

He said now only 50 per cent of the bus fare would be charged from women during intra-state travelling in HRTC buses.

 ?? PTI ?? Union minister Smriti Irani being presented a memento by state party president Suresh Kashyap and senior BJP leaders at Chambi village near Dharamshal­a on Friday.
PTI Union minister Smriti Irani being presented a memento by state party president Suresh Kashyap and senior BJP leaders at Chambi village near Dharamshal­a on Friday.

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