Himachal Pradesh CM says diverting state machinery for panchayat poll work will affect disaster relief

The panchayati elections in the state were due in December and January. Chief Secretary Sanjay Gupta, in his capacity as Chairman, State Executive Committee, State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA), on Wednesday issued an order saying panchayat elections “will be held only after the restoration of proper connectivity throughout the state so that no inconvenience is caused to the public as well as the polling personnel and further no voter loses his right to vote because of road connectivity issues”. The order cites the widespread damage to the infrastructure and loss of lives due to the cloudbursts and rain induced flash floods and landslides.

“The BJP leaders are unnecessarily opposing this decision. It has become their policy to oppose everything to divert attention. The BJP should rest assured. Panchayat elections will take place. But first, we must deal with the disaster,” Sukhu said.

Responding to media queries at the state secretariat, he said that if the administrative machinery to be were diverted to election duty at this stage, disaster relief would come to a halt.

The BJP has accused the Congress government of running away from the elections fearing an imminent defeat. “The Congress government knows that it will face massive defeat,” said Leader of the Opposition Jai Ram Thakur, adding that even polls to the urban local bodies were postponed at the last moment.

Addressing media persons, BJP state media incharge Randhir Sharma said the Congress government was violating democratic norms by postponing panchayati raj institutions and urban body elections.

“New urban local bodies were created and elections were supposed to be held within six months but the government passed an ordinance and amended the Act to extend elections from six months to two years,” he said.

Taking a swipe at the Opposition, Sukhu said the BJP was fragmented into five factions (one each led by Union minister and party national president J P Nadda, former chief minister Jai Ram Thakur, former Union minister Anurag Thakur, state party chief Rajiv Bindal, and Rajya Sabha member Harsh Mahajan).

“Jai Ram Thakur’s frustration recently became visible when he was irked by slogans raised in support of Anurag Thakur during BJP programme. You’ve all seen BJP rebel Ramesh Dhawala’s statements. Rajeev Bindal has his own faction, as do Nadda and Mahajan,” Sukhu said.

The CM said added that since the BJP has no substantial issue against the government, it resorts to irrelevant controversies. “Sometimes they raise the Vimal Negi case, sometimes the toilet tax, sometimes question my foreign visits related to my daughter’s admission. And when that doesn’t work, they circulate videos from farmers’ meetings on milk procurement,” Sukhu quipped.

Separately, Education Minister Rohit Thakur, in a statement, accused the BJP of having double standards. “ When in power, they had delayed Corporation elections by a year in 2022. The elections were deferred in many other states under BJP rule for various reasons. Yet, the BJP chooses to ignore such contexts while criticizing the Congress government,” Rohit Thakur said.

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