Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has lashed out at Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur, accusing him of ignoring Hamirpur while he was in power.

Sukhu, while addressing a public gathering at Hamirpur after Congress candidate Satpal Raizada filed nomination from Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat on Friday, said that the people of Hamirpur are his strength and the people here have supported him every moment.

“I will remain grateful throughout my life to the people of Hamirpur and Nadaun for the position I have reached today. It is the people’s faith that inspires me to move forward. With the blessings of all of you, today I have become the Chief Minister despite belonging from a humble family,” he said.

“During the previous BJP government, no one was deliberately made a minister from Hamirpur district. The district that used to get ministers along with the Chief Minister, was not given any place in the previous government,” he blamed, questioning Jai Ram Thakur’s accomplishment for the district during his chief ministership.

“Fifteen years back, when Prem Kumar Dhumal was the CM, he had laid the foundation stone of the bus stand in Hamirpur, however Jai Ram Thakur during his tenure did not give a single penny for the construction of the bus stand,” he said.

“Soon after I assumed the post of Chief Minister, the work of building the bus stand started on war footing and will be ready in nine months. Along with this, the work of undergrounding the wires of Gandhi Chowk has also started,” said he.

The Chief Minister accused the independent MLA of Hamirpur of taking tenders worth Rs 100 crore and mined the ravines and plundered the resources of the area.

Attacking the rebel Congress MLA from Sujanpur who shifted to BJP Sukhu said that Rajinder Rana joined Congress in 2014 by betraying former BJP CM Prem Kumar as Dhumal.

“His motive for defeating Dhumal was only to earn money. His welfare organization receives money from Baddi, through which he honours ex-servicemen. Till date, Rajendra Rana has never spent even a single penny from his pocket on them,” he charged.

Describing the six rebel Congress MLAs as ‘Sellouts’, he said that the MLA of Barsar has also sold himself for Rs 15 crore and investigation is being conducted against them.

He alleged that the rebel MLA from Kuthlehar used to visit him to get contracts, but he never raised any public issue.

Attacking rebel MLA from Gagret, he alleged that Chaitanya Tax was being imposed on medical shops, petrol pumps, shops and crushers in Gagret.

Sukhu reiterated that as long as he remains in the post of Chief Minister, he will never compromise with corruption.

“This is not an ordinary election as your vote will decide whether money power or manpower will win,” said Sukhu reaching out to the public to be prudent while exercising their franchise.

Before the Lok Sabha elections, negotiations were going on to topple the Congress government, so that political gains could be taken in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, he alleged.

Appealing to the public to vote for Congress candidate, he said: “The BJP MP from Hamirpur parliamentary constituency Anurag Thakur has been there for 26 years. This time the Congress party has fielded Satpal Raizada and the people of Hamirpur must give him a chance, so as to bring about transformation of the area.”

“Raizada will not lie about connecting Hamirpur by train, whereas Anurag Thakur always lies. Anurag Thakur takes the credit for bringing Hamirpur Medical College, whereas the truth is that I had got the medical college approved on March 3, 2014 during the UPA government,” claimed Sukhu.

“During the Covid-19 pandemic, as an MLA, I gave an RT PCR machine worth Rs 35 lakh, whereas being an MP, this responsibility was of Anurag Thakur,” said Chief Minister.