By : Mohan Verma
Ram Swaroop Sharma, BJP candidate from Mandi Parliamentary constituency, addressed a series of public meetings in Mandi and Kullu districts and called upon the people to cast their votes for BJP which alone could bring development and prosperity in Himachal Pradesh.
He pleaded the voters to cast their votes to BJP only as all pre-poll surveys and various impartial agencies had predicted that Modi-wave was sweeping across the country and he is sure to become the next Prime Minister.
During a dozen public meetings, his only thrust was that voting to the Congress would amount to wasting the vote. “Vote for the development and prosperity of Himachal Pradesh is in the larger interest of the people”, he exhorted.
Congress, he alleged, had meted out a step-motherly treatment to Himachal Pradesh. It sacrificed the prime interests of the people of the state by denying share in hydel projects built on its territory by rendering people landless and homeless.
He lamented that Congress led UPA on coming to power withdrew the special economic package granted to this hill state by the then Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee.
He admitted that he was an ordinary party worker coming from an ordinary family facing a formidable and rich candidate and wife of the chief minister, armed with power and resources. “You, the people, are my only hope, power and strength. I trust, you are capable of defeating the mighty by casting your vote en-mass on merit to BJP which had done tremendous development during its tenures”, he stressed.
After Vajpayee, Narinder Modi was the only ray of hope for Himachal Pradesh. All the four seats of Himachal Pradesh must go to BJP in the supreme interests of the state, he urged the people.
Mr. Sharma alleged in his public meetings that all the problems being faced by the common people like inflation, corruption, deteriorating law and order situation, unemployment increasing gap between the rich and the poor were due to the widespread corruption and misrule by the UPA lead Congress government.
It is intriguing, he alleged, that the Congress led UPA government did not hold any investigation in over 25 mega scams. Some scammers were even rewarded by prized posts, he wondered.
Later in the night addressing a news conference at a local hotel, State Youth Congress President Vikramaditya Singh, son of Virbhadra Singh, claimed that Congress candidate from Mandi Parliamentary segment, Pratibha Singh, his mother, would win the Mandi Lok Sabha seat by a margin of at least 2 lakh votes.
He said Himachal Congress believed in issue-based politics and he refrained from making comments against any BJP leader. He took credit for the setting up of Medical College (ESIC) Ner Chowk and IIT at Komand. He disclosed that a Rs. 84 crore drinking water supply scheme is underway. Besides this, 61 schools had been upgraded and 14 new schools had been opened in Mandi constituency. He said he was motivating 46 percent youth voters in favour of Congress.
