SHIMLA, 10.11.24-Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr. (Col.) Dhani Ram Shandil and Revenue Minister Jagat Singh Negi said here today that the BJP was making desperate attempts to malign the image of congress ruled states by making false accusations in order to woo voters during the upcoming assembly elections in Maharashtra. He said that statements made by BJP leaders during an election rally in Maharashtra were baseless and far from truth. The Ministers said there was not a single charge of corruption on the state government in its two year tenure. The centre controls the law enforcement agencies and if this would have been a case, the centre would have taken an action against our government. They added that elections should be fought on the issues of development rather than on image tarnishing by making false statements.

They added that the state and central BJP leaders have much to answer about the promises made during Lok Sabha elections. The BJP came to power by promising 2 crore employment opportunities per year to the youth of the country and had also claimed to transfer 15-15 lakh in the account of all the people of the country, said the ministers, adding that the BJP is now silent on such matters. "The BJP have attained power on the basis of unfulfilled promises and anger against the centre is visible among all sections of the society. The inflation is sky-high and the prices of daily use items like cylinder and edible products are going beyond reach of a common person," they added.

They added that the BJP has received rupees 6,060 crore through electoral bonds, largest chunk among others. The electoral bonds have been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court and the BJP should look within before accusing others. They said that since the BJP has come to power at the centre, they have been continuously working to topple opposition government. Arunachal was first where the Congress government was toppled. Congress was the largest party in Manipur and Goa, but the BJP formed the government through unfair means. Maharashtra saw the BJP leaders take oath late at night to claim formation of government despite not enjoying majority. Similarly, the government in MP was unsettled through Operation Lotus. Central agencies like the ED, CBI and IT were being used to pressure and threaten opposition leaders and workers.

The minister said that the state government has its focus on Vyavastha Parivartan and has fulfilled five of its guarantees in a short span of 15 months and people of all sections, including orphans, women, youth, senior citizens and farmers were benefitting from the schemes being implemented in the state. We have restored OPS for 1.36 lakh government employees, rupees 1,500 were being given to over 2.70 lakh women of the state under Indira Gandhi Pyari Behna Sukh-Sammaan Nidhi Yojana, English Medium has been started in all government schools from 1^st class, rupees 780 crore Rajiv Gandhi Start-up Yojana has been started to provide employment/self-employment opportunities to the youth of the state and Himachal has become the first state in the country to provide minimum support price of rupees 45 for cow milk and rupees 55 for buffalo milk," said the ministers while counting the fulfilled guarantees.

The ministers asked the centre to visit Himachal Pradesh to witness how people of the state were availing maximum benefits of the welfare schemes, programmes and policies being run by the state government with full transparency and zero corruption, a model for the centre to learn and implement.

Under the vibrant leadership of Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, Himachal has become the first state in the country to bring a law 'Mukhya Mantri Sukh-Ashray Yojana' for ensuring safe and healthy environment for the orphans and destitute women. "Our government has adopted orphans as 'Children of the state' and has taken full responsibility to secure their future, including studies and housing. We are also providing rupees 4,000 per month, festival and clothing allowance, financial grant start-ups and aid to build their own houses and other benefits," said the ministers.

They said that the government was focused on making Himachal self-reliant by 2027 and most prosperous state of the country by 2032. "While our government is working day and night to achieve these targets, the BJP was busy making false accusations and baseless statements, including raising topics like samosas and making them heated national debate," said the ministers.

On one hand our government was making efforts to improve the economic condition of the state by taking rigorous steps for resource mobilization, whereas the BJP was draining states resources by imposing by-elections, result of its greed to attain power by toppling the democratically elected governments of the states. "The people of Himachal will never forgive the BJP for imposing by-elections in Himachal, draining crores of rupees in the process and slowing down implementation of developmental schemes due to model code of conduct," said the ministers.

They said that dues around 20,000 crore were pending with the centre related to post-disaster assessment, the NPS, BBMB and the power projects etc. and asked the centre to clear that money instead of making baseless and untruthful statements for political gains.

They added that the state government was ensuring overall development of the state and welfare of all sections of the society, including the weaker and vulnerable sections. The state government has made much-needed changes in the excise policy and as a result we have collected an additional revenue of rupees 2600 crore in a short span of time. The ministers added: "All of this money is being used for the welfare of the state and its citizens. We are providing minimum support price on naturally grown wheat and maize. We have started Sukh-Shiksha Yojana, Y.S. Parmar Vidyarthi Rin Yojana, universal carton system and other welfare schemes in the state. All of our schemes are proving to be game changer in the field of public welfare and the centre should study these schemes and implement them on a national scale for larger benefit of the society."