CHANDIGARH: The Himachal Pradesh unit of the Congress on Saturday promised to set up a commission of inquiry into all the government recruitments done by the Jairam Thakur-led BJP government, if it is voted to power in the upcoming Assembly elections. The Congress released a 23-page ‘chargesheet’ against the BJP government, saying that the document can be summed up as “Bhajpa ke teen bhai: berozgari, bhrashtachar, mehngai (the three brothers of BJP: unemployment, corruption, inflation).”
Leader of Opposition Mukesh Agnihotri released the document, titled ‘Loot ki chhoot’ at Shimla, and alleged major discrepancies in posts filled in the past few years under the current regime. “Virbhadra is known as ‘vikas wale’ CM, Shanta Kumar as ‘pani wale’ CM and PK Dhumal as ‘sadkon wale’ CM, but Jairam will go down in the history of Himachal as ‘naukri bechne wale’ CM,” he said.
“Question papers were leaked during recruitment of police constables and junior engineers, and sold for Rs 6-8 lakh, but those responsible for it are either sitting in the secretariat or in the police HQ. Also, people from outside the state were given jobs,” Agnihotri alleged. He added, “We have decided to constitute a commission of inquiry to probe all recruitments, as there have been gross irregularities in appointments made by HP Public Service Commission and the Staff Selection Board at Hamirpur.”
He also said that an inquiry will be ordered into purchase of water pipes for Rs 2,200 crore, which are now lying dumped across the state. Agnihotri said that once the Congress government is formed, it will send a bill of Rs 500 crore to the BJP which the latter spent on holding rallies of PM Narendra Modi, and other ministers and chief ministers on party’s campaigns.
Congress’ campaign committee chairman Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu said those responsible for irregularities will not be spared in every department, including purchases made during the Covid-19 pandemic, which also resulted in resignation of then state BJP chief Rajeev Bindal. “Democracy has been weakened under BJP as powers of all constitutional bodies have been diluted,” he said.
Responding to the ‘chargesheet’ against the BJP government, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said, “Those whose national leadership is on bail have no moral right to issue chargesheet against others.”