Prof Dhumal completes four years as CM of Himachal Pradesh

Congress attacking the federal structure—Nitin Gadkari?

From Our Correspondent

December 30 last was a historic occasion when Prof Prem Kumar Dhumal completed four years of his second term as Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister.  With this he became the first non-Congress Chief Minister to reign in Himachal for that long.

The celebration too became historic. Another history was created when a historic gathering of more than 25000 people thronged the historic Dhalpur Maidan, the venue of the world famous Kullu Dussehra, to celebrate the historic occasion.

The star attractions of the day were BJP national president Shri Nitin Gadkari and Prof. Dhumal. Shri Gadkari specially flew from Delhi to join the celebrations as chief guest. As he reached Dhalpur Maidan he was greeted with traditional Kullu welcome with the sound of local musical instruments and Kullu-Kinnaur natis (dance performances). The tribal Kinnaur troupe was led by local MLA Shri Tejwant Negi in the traditional dress.

Congratulating Prof Dhumal for completing four years of his present term, Shri Nitin Gadkari launched a scathing condemnation of the UPA government as the “most corrupt the country has since Independence”. He recalled UPA’s 2G spectrum, commonwealth games and other scams to highlight how corrupt Manmohan government is. He regretted the government is not doing enough to bring back the black money stashed by Indians abroad.

The Congress, Shri Gadkari charged, has ruined the federal structure of the country and has divided the nation on religious and caste lines to appease the voters.

Shri Gadkari virtually kicked off BJP’s election campaign for the assembly polls due in December when he asked the people to renew their mandate to the Dhumal government as BJP has “fulfilled all the promises made in its manifesto within four years”. Shri Gadkari congratulated Dhumal government for having won 52 national awards for its achievements in various fields. This received a thunderous applause from the gathering.

Shri Gadkari said a survey has disclosed that “over 60 per cent partymen approve of Dhumal government for good governance and development.” He also said he has the report card of all the ministers and MLAs with him.

He alleged that those who were looting the country were given a free hand by the UPA government while farmers are forced to commit suicide. That a majority of the daily wagers are forced to survive on a paltry income of Rs 1,000 per month in the country holds mirror to the kind of economic policies being pursued by Congress-led UPA.

Shri Nitin Gadkari said only BJP could provide a clean and efficient government to secure country’s future as it had done during Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee regime.

Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Prof Prem Kumar Dhumal thanked the people for unstinted support to his government and BJP during the last four years. He promised that his government will work with greater zeal and enthusiasm to serve the people in a much better way in the times to come. He also availed himself of the opportunity to launch many new public welfare schemes and to extend many financial benefits to the students, Anganwari workers and employees.  He said his government has taken care of every section of society.

BJP national vice-president Shri Shanta Kumar narrated what pro-people policies he had launched when he became Chief Minister in 1977 and 1990. He praised the Dhumal government for its great achievements and appealed to the people to vote BJP to power once again in the elections.

BJP national general secretary Shri JP Nadda, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha president Shri Anurag Thakur, BJP state president Shri Khimi Ram, PWD Minister Thakur Gulab Singh, Health Minister Dr Rajiv Bindal, IPH Minister Shri Ravinder Ravi, state general secretary Shri Ramsarup Sharma, and former state BJP president Shri Suresh Bharadwaj, among others, also addressed the gathering and highlighted the fact that during the last four years BJP has won the assembly seats of Jubbal-Kotkhai, Rohroo and Renuka for the first time since the first elections in 1952.?