Shimla: The Congress National General Secretary and MP Randeep Singh Surjewala attacked Modi at the Center and the Jai Ram Thakur government of the state. He attacked the government on inflation, unemployment, and the imposition of GST on apple cartons and food items and said that the defeat of the BJP in the assembly elections is the victory of the people of Himachal. He said that Himachal is Devbhoomi, and change is the tradition here. He was addressing a press conference here on Tuesday.
Surjewala alleged that the inflation prevailing in the country today is BJP-made, and this inflation has snatched the income of the people of the country. He said that due to inflation, there is a deep darkness in Himachal. The situation has become so dire that the poor, working class, and middle class have been forced to cut the budget for their food and kitchen. Referring to the prices of LPG, petrol, diesel, cooking oil, pulses, etc. in 2014 and today, he said that the prices have increased from 37 percent to 180 percent. Strongly condemning the imposition of GST on many items of agriculture and horticulture, he said that the GST on cartons and trays of apples in Himachal has been increased to 18 percent. GST has also been imposed on pulses, flour, curd, lassi, paneer, children's pencils and books, hospital beds, toothpaste, and other everyday items. In such a situation, the time has come to say goodbye to this BJP government.
Randeep Surjewala alleged that the BJP government in the Center and Himachal has pushed the future of the youth into darkness. He said that the unemployment rate in the country is the highest in 45 years. Talking about Himachal, more youth are unemployed here than the national average. He said that there are about 9 lakh registered unemployed in Himachal, and the government has completely failed to provide them employment. He alleged that instead of giving jobs, the BJP government also snatched the ones they got due to alleged corruption. Referring to the police recruitment paper leak case, he said that the police recruitment paper has been sold here. He said that 63 thousand posts are vacant in government departments, and the government is not giving employment to the youth.
Attacking the Modi government at the Center, the Congress leader said that it did not set up a single government factory in its eight-year tenure. At the same time, government undertakings worth lakhs of crores of rupees created by Congress in 75 years have been sold or are ready to be sold. He also released a list in this regard to the media. He said that when government undertakings will be sold to private hands and railways will be privatized, then the common man will find it difficult to travel in them at a concessional rate because no company does any work without profit, and then everything will be costly. He said that the time has come for the people of Himachal to teach a lesson to the BJP about this alleged loot, lies, and deceit. He said that the people of Himachal would vote for the guarantees of the Congress and would form the Congress government with a two-thirds majority. Congress National Spokespersons Abhay Dubey, Alka Lamba, AICC Coordinator Anees Ahmed, Media Coordinator Sanjeev, State Congress Media Department Head Naresh Chauhan, and State Congress Vice President Mahendra Chauhan were also present in the press conference.