Congress puts up a united face at Kangra event
DHARAMSHALA: : The Kangra Congress on Thursday put up a united face as the Himachal state party president Pratibha Singh calls for the ouster of the BJP government in the upcoming assembly elections for being a “failure on all fronts”. It was Pratibha’s maiden visit to electorally significant Kangra after being appointed the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee chief. She presided over a district-level party camp in Dharamshala.
Those in attendance included Congress Legislative Party leader Mukesh Agnihotri, district party chief Ajay Mahajan, former MP Chaudhary Chander Kumar, former minister Sudhir Sharma, Kangra MLA and state party working president Pawan Kajal, MLAs Ashish Butail and Vikramaditya Singh, AICC secretary Raghubir Singh Bali, state secretary Kewal Singh Pathania and senior leaders from across the district.
Electorally, Kangra is the most important district in the state, with a population of over 15 lakh, of which approximately more than 12 lakh are voters. It sends 15 legislators to the state assembly.
The dominance of Kangra in electoral history of Himachal, since its merger in the state in 1966, can be gauged from the fact that the party which wins maximum seats in Kangra forms a government in the state. The BJP has already started consolidating its cadres in the district ahead of the assembly polls, to be held later this year.
Traditionally, Kangra is known for voting against the ruling party.
The Congress is pinning its hopes on the “anti-incumbency” against the Jai Ram Thakur regime in Kangra to return to the power in the state.
Addressing the party workers, Pratibha claimed that people have made up their minds to change the government in the state. She claimed that Congress will win the upcoming elections in Himachal and Gujarat and form a majority government.
Taking a dig at the state BJP government, Pratibha alleged that the current regime has failed to live up to the expectations of the people and only mislead the public in the name of development by claiming credit for the projects started by the previous Congress government. The Congress president said that Himachal was the fastest-growing state today it was “due to the efforts” of successive Congress governments and particularly former six-term chief minister Virbhadra Singh.
She exhorted the party workers to go among the public highlighting the works done by the previous Congress regime and the “failures” of the BJP government.
In his address, CLP leader Mukesh Agnihotri alleged that under the BJP rule, various mafias were ruling the roosts in Himachal. He also called for the cancellation of the membership of the two Independent legislators who joined the BJP on Wednesday.
“It is clearly mentioned in the anti-defection law that if an Independent legislator joins any party after being elected, it would be considered as a betrayal of the voters who elected him and his membership should be cancelled,” he said.