BJP submits memorandum to Gov against Cong move to shut govt institutions in Himachal Pradesh

The memorandum was submitted by Jai Ram Thakur. The former chief minister and six-time legislator, Thakur, was on Sunday named the leader of the BJP legislature party, a senior functionary of the Opposition party in the state said.

“The BJP government, in its Cabinet meetings, had found the creation of such institutions necessary and made adequate budgetary allocations for them. The current Congress government is going against the public sentiment with its tyrannical policies. It is working with vendetta against the BJP,” said the BJP in a statement.

The memorandum claimed that the decisions regarding the closing of institutions were being taken even when no Cabinet meeting has been held by the Congress government after coming to power. “We expect the Congress government to carry forward the work of the BJP for the public benefit. But it has chosen to go against it,” the memorandum stated. The Congress responded to the BJP’s allegations stating that these departments had been created for the purpose of vote bank.

“The previous BJP government in the state had opened over 590 institutions at the fag end of its tenure without making any budgetary provisions and without recruiting the required staff. It was done with the sole objective of wooing the voters. During the last six months, the then BJP government went on a spree opening health, education, revenue and other institutions. It was nothing but taking the voters for a ride,” said CM Sukhu. The CM said that to make functional all these 590 institutions, about Rs 3,000 crore was required and this was at a time when the hill state was reeling under a Rs 75,000-crore debt.

Over 30 health institutions had been opened by the previous BJP government which did not have even Class IV employees. A large number of institutions were opened with just a single employee, the CM claimed.