Taking a jibe at All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi over her visit to the disaster-hit Himachal Pradesh onj Wednesday, the former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition in the State Legislative Assembly Jai Ram Thakur alleged that she is touring the disaster-hit state eyeing “political mileage”.

The Himachal LoP said that the AICC chief is visiting the state almost a month after the heavy rains and floods wreaked havoc there. He further claimed that she is “doing a photoshoot” in the flood and rain-hit areas just to take political benefit out of it.
“If the Central Ministers and BJP president were here why she did not come at the time of disaster? Her visit is entirely a political tour, What contribution has she given and what she has planned for Congress to do in a disaster situation in the state? She should not provoke the emotions of the people of the state,” he said.
Speaking to ANI Thakur accused her of “misleading” the people of the state over the increase in import duty on apples.

“She is misleading the people of Himachal Pradesh saying that the import duty has been decreased by 35 per cent. This is not true she has a lack of knowledge on it. I am clearly saying that she should have said that the Congress Party government will do the possible help to the people but she is misleading the people on the name of apple import,” he said.
Further, he said, “To demand help from the centre is one part but she is alleging that the central government has not done anything, she is doing politics on disaster here. The Sukhu government is in a position of helping people only after the help of the Centre.”
Jai Ram Thakur further claimed that Priyanka Gandhi was answerless after the people of the state started asking questions about the ten guarantees made by Congress during the elections.

“They (Congress Party) have made ten false promises, they misled people during the elections and again she is doing the same. People in every nook and corner of the state are asking what happened to the 1500 rupees to women, 300 free units of electricity, you promised that cow dung could be bought 2 rupees per kg and you promised 5 lakh jobs, where are all those? This is very unfortunate that you are playing politics on it,” Jai Ram Thakur said.
On being asked about the INDIA coalition, he said, “The INDIA alliance, they are not in this situation that they can do any kind of election seat sharing. There will not be any seat-sharing consensus. The popularity of India after the G-20 across the world and the successful Chandrayaan mission, these parties are frustrated and people in India know the popularity of Modi and leadership.”
He also slammed Congress MP Rahul Gandhi for going abroad while the country hosted the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Delhi earlier this month.
“Rahul Gandhi was out of the country during the G-20 meeting. He dreams of becoming the Prime Minister of India. The guests across the world were here and as he was afraid of exposing himself here he decided to go abroad. He has an old habit of speaking against the BJP but now he is speaking against India too. He has developed a habit of speaking against India and BJP whenever he is out of India,” Thakur further added.