Cong govt spent Rs 11,200 cr on loan interest, says Himachal CM Sukhu

The present Congress government has taken Rs 28,000 crore loan in the past two years out of which over Rs 11,200 crore was spent to pay interest on loan taken by the previous governments since 1971, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said on Wednesday.

He also said that Rs 7,800 was spent on repaying the principal amount of loan while Rs 9,000 crore on development.

Speaking at a programme to mark completion of two years of Congress government in office in Bilaspur, Sukhu said that this is not a celebration  "It is just a programme and we would celebrate when Himachal Pradesh becomes self-reliant in 2027," he said.

The chief minister reiterated the challenges of financial crunch, worst monsoon disaster in 2023 and "political conspiracy" leading to bypolls on nine assembly seats faced by the Congress government in the past two years.

Sukhu said that 75,000 tourists were rescued during the monsoon disaster last year.

"I am aware of the Union government's step-motherly treatment to the state," he said and added that Himachal Pradesh has still not received any funds under Post-Disaster Need Assessment (PDNA) for last year's monsoon disaster.

He said that the Congress won six out of nine seats in assembly by-elections and its vote share increased by 14 per cent in Lok Sabha polls, and added that God and people of the state saved his government.

The seats fell vacant after nine MLAs including six Congress rebels and three independent MLAs had cross voted in favour of the BJP nominee Harsh Mahajan in Rajya Sabha elections.

Listing the government's initiatives in the past two years, Sukhu said there is no crunch of funds for development and maintained that he would not back out from taking strong decisions in the interest of the state and its people.

"The Union government is using the Enforcement Directorate against me...the BJP has been making baseless allegations for the past four months," he alleged.

Taking a dig at BJP president and Union Health Minister J P Nadda at his home turf Bilaspur, Sukhu said it is sad that a leader of his stature talks about toilet tax in public rally. He challenged Nadda to keep all BJP MLAs in toilet for 24 hours and check the next month bill.

The chief minister claimed that the BJP is divided in five groups -- J P Nadda, Anurag Thakur, Jai Ram Thakur, Rajiv Bindal and the fifth group is of Congress rebels now in BJP -- and all these BJP leaders are protesting against the Congress to save their own seats.

In spite of huge debt liability inherited by the previous BJP government, the Congress worked with the theme of 'Vyavastha Parivartan' (change of system) and restored Old Pension Scheme benefiting 1.36 lakh employees of the state, he added.