BJP leader and Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur on Thursday said the Sukhu government should resign and hold a public referendum in Himachal again. Along with this, he also strongly criticised the Chief Minister’s decision to withdraw the electricity subsidy.
Holding a press conference, he said, “How can they now appeal to voluntarily give up the electricity subsidy after guaranteeing 300 units of free electricity? This is a betrayal of the people of Himachal. The Congress party came to power on the basis of these guarantees, and now it is going back on them.”
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Thakur strongly criticised Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, saying that during the elections, Congress had guaranteed 300 units of free electricity, but now they were asking people to voluntarily give up the subsidy. “This clearly shows that the Congress government came to power on false guarantees and is failing to fulfil them morally. If the Chief Minister has the courage, he should resign and seek a fresh mandate from the people.”
Thakur questioned the criteria for the subsidy withdrawal, asking what the benchmark for the new formula would be and how the government plans to impose this decision on the public. He also pointed out that while the Chief Minister had previously proposed suspending the salaries of MLAs, Congress MLAs had already taken three months’ worth of accumulated salary.
He mentioned that Himachal has 26 lakh electricity consumers, with domestic consumers previously receiving a 125-unit electricity subsidy under the BJP government, which has now been discontinued by the current government. “The per unit price of domestic electricity in Himachal is Rs 5.60, out of which a subsidy of Rs 3.53 was provided earlier. Now, the government is offering only a subsidy of Rs 2.07 for the first 125 units. For usage above 126 units, a subsidy of Rs 1.83 was being provided, and for consumption above 300 units, a subsidy of Rs 1.03 was being given, but this has also been discontinued by the current government. Additionally, heavy taxes have been imposed on electricity used by industries.”
Thakur declared the Sukhu government’s two-year tenure a complete failure.
The Leader of the Opposition mocked the Congress government, saying that a comedy show is running in Himachal Pradesh. He compared the government’s actions to Jaspal Bhatti’s comedy show “Ulta Pulta”. He highlighted the “Samosa Investigation”, the “Jungli Murga” issue, and the controversial “Toilet Tax” as examples of the government’s wrong decisions.
