Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre of not standing with the people of Himachal Pradesh, when a relentless monsoon last year brought the hill State to its knees.
Mr. Venugopal, addressing a press conference in Shimla, said the BJP’s indifference towards the people of Himachal Pradesh, including its apple farmers, and disregard for other burning issues will ensure its defeat.
He also alleged that after five phases of Lok Sabha election held so far, the Prime Minister was resorting to low-level attacks that were far removed from real issues, and involved in propaganda against Opposition parties, which clearly reflect his realisation that BJP was not coming to power again.
Mr. Venugopal further said Mr. Modi failed to keep his promises. “In 2014 and 2019 the BJP made several promises but never cared to fulfil them. Mr. Modi promised 2 crore jobs every year but now he never speaks about it even though unemployment has risen dramatically. The BJP betrayed the youth through schemes like Agniveer,” he added.
He blamed the BJP for attempting to destabilise and topple the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh, accusing the saffron party of attempting to bring down a democratically elected State government through unconstitutional means such as money and muscle power.
Meanwhile, in Chandigarh, Congress general secretary (communication) Jairam Ramesh said that the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) was headed for a clear and decisive mandate.
He said trends from the first two phases had established that the INDIA bloc was set to form the government at the Centre. He asserted that Mr. Modi’s language had changed since April 19 and the PM started communalising his election strategy by turning everything into a “Hindu-Muslim issue”. “History is repeating itself after 20 years, and just like the Congress-led alliance stormed to power then, it will storm to power this time also,” he said.
On the Opposition’s prime ministerial face, he said once the INDIA bloc gets majority, the Prime Minister will be appointed within days.
He said the party was fighting the election to save the Constitution and democracy, pointing out “the BJP committed the murder of democracy in Chandigarh on January 30 by fraudulently making its candidate win the mayoral election”.
He said the Congress has guaranteed in its manifesto that the minimum support price (MSP) for crops will have a legal status. Besides, farmers’ loans will be waived off, and minimum daily wages for the labourers will be increased to ₹400 from ₹250, he added.
