Kangra Cong leaders bury the hatchet; draw up plan to corner govt

Burying the hatchet, senior Congress leaders in Kangra on Friday resolved to fight against the ‘discrimination being meted out to Kangra district under the BJP regime’.

Prominent attendees were former minister GS Bali and his bête noir Sudhir Sharma. It is for the first time in three years that the two leaders, who mostly crossed swords in the battle to dominate Kangra, came together.

Last time, they were seen before the 2017 assembly elections. Other leaders who attended the meeting included former Rajya Sabha Member Viplove Thakur, ex-MP Chander Kumar, Kangra district Congress president Ajay Mahajan, MLAs Pawan Kajal and Ashish Butail.

Former MLAs Jagjeevan Pal, Sanjay Rattan, Kishori Lal, and Himachal Pradesh Congress general secretary Kewal Singh Pathania were also present.

Meanwhile, former minister Sudhir Sharma said that the major agenda of the meeting was bias against Kangra district in the current BJP regime.

“The current BJP regime has meted out discrimination to Kangra whether it is on development front or granting second capital status to Dharamshala town,” said Sharma.

“The road to Shimla goes through Kangra. It is this district that decides which party will form the government. However, the BJP government has ignored the district,” he added.

The former minister and AICC secretary said that all the development projects had come to a standstill in Kangra. Dharamshala was granted second capital second capital status by previous Congress government and that issued to has been put on backburner.

“We gave the government three years time but things don’t seem to getting back on track. Now there is no option but a stir,” said Sharma.

Another senior leader GS Bali said the road projects announced by the Union Surface Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari have yet not taken off.

“The Central University of Himachal Pradesh (CUHP) still awaits allotment of land for permanent campus and other projects too face a similar fate,” he said.

Bali said that the many corruption cases involving BJP leaders that have come to fore but the government was trying to hush up the things.

He said that the Congress will launch an agitation against this discrimination.