Apart from driver and conductor, no one else will be there in ‘that 52-seater Volvo bus’, says BJP

Thakur said the rally held in disaster-affected Mandi should have been postponed, but the government was “busy celebrating” despite severe losses caused by natural calamities. “Instead of applying balm to the wounds of the affected families, the government sprinkled salt.”

He said that the public had witnessed how the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister “glared at each other” and vented anger from the stage. “People, officials and employees were shocked to see this. The stage was meant to talk about disaster relief, not internal grudges,” he added.

The former chief minister said that although Congress leaders had announced that Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi would attend the rally, but none of them turned up. He pointed out that former CM Virbhadra Singh’s wife Pratibha Singh as well as her son, PWD Minister Vikramaditya Singh, were absent. “Not even their photographs were displayed on posters or flex banners at the venue. It is clear that the Holly Lodge family has distanced itself from this rally,” he said.

Thakur alleged that Deputy CM Mukesh Agnihotri publicly rebuked the Chief Minister on stage. He said that the absence of the Holly Lodge family showed that “Congress leaders associated with the legacy of Virbhadra Singh are being sidelined by CM Sukhu and his associates”.

The LoP said that the event, which the government claimed was meant to present its vision, was used only to blame the Centre and the previous BJP government. “The Sukhu government has made it clear that for the next two years, they will continue to blame the Centre. I had said earlier that this government has no vision; today it became evident,” he said.

He claimed that nearly Rs 10 crore from the state exchequer was spent on the rally. “Was this money spent so that the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister could fight in public? Shouldn’t this money have gone to disaster victims?” he asked.

The former CM claimed that people were brought to the rally forcibly and government employees were pressured to attend. “Even schoolchildren were made to sit in buses and sent to Paddal Ground. ITI students were pushed into the venue. Despite that, the rally failed,” he said.

The opposition party also slammed Deputy CM Mukesh Agnihotri’s remarks on the state bureaucracy. BJP Rajya Sabha MP Harsh Mahajan, BJP spokesman and MLA Randhir Sharma condemned Deputy CM Mukesh Agnihotri’s comment that bureaucrats “will be dealt with in the dark of night” if they act against the government. “Threatening officers, warning them of being crushed, and using language about destroying them is not democratic — it reflects a dictatorial mindset,” Mahajan said.

He said that the Congress government was deeply involved in misuse of power and was not hesitating to intimidate democratic institutions.

Mahajan said the event was less about achievements and more about preparing the ground for the 2027 elections. “Whatever they could not do in three years, they are now trying to do in the next two. They are just trying to mislead people,” he said. He accused the government of misusing official machinery by bringing beneficiaries under the guise of government schemes and turning them into participants of a political rally