Struggle in state Cong evident in Virbhadra’s felicitation:BJP

Himachal Pradesh BJP today termed the felicitation ceremony being organised by Union Minister Virbhadra Singh’s supporters to mark his 50 years in public life as a manifestation of intense power struggle in the state Congress and said “no leader can rule the hearts of people simply by eulogizing himself”.

“Only policies and programmes launched for public good having far reaching effects make a leader popular but in case of Virbhadra singh, people rejected him whenever he led the party in elections after remaining chief minister”, State BJP president Satpal Singh Satti said in a statement.

Calling the “Samman Samaroh” an exercise in futility, he said it was only a manifestation of the intense power struggle going on within the state unit of the Congress.

“People are the ultimate judge to decide the stature or popularity of a leader and such sponsored Samarohs are meaningless”, he said.

Asking Singh to name any package, project or scheme sanctioned to the state due to his efforts, Satti accused him of failing in his duty towards Himachal Pradesh as a Union Minister and remaining silent when the industrial package to the state was curtailed.

He also alleged that no major Railway project was sanctioned to the state by the UPA government despite Singh being a Cabinet minister at the Centre.

On the contrary, development got an impetus whenever the BJP was in power, Satti claimed and recalled that several new initiatives, policy decisions and programmes were taken up ushering in a new era of development especially in rural water supply and hydropower development during 1977-80 and 1990-92 when Shanta Kumar was chief minister.

He also credited present Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal with taking the state to new heights of development during his tenure.