Mandi (Himachal Pradesh): BJP has again fielded Union Minister Anurag Thakur from the Hamirpur Parliamentary constituency in Himachal Pradesh for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Anurag Thakur started campaigning as he got the ticket in his parliamentary constituency. On Thursday, he visited the Kangra and Dharampur areas of Mandi district.
'BJP will win all four seats in Himachal'
Speaking exclusively to ETV Bharat, Union Minister Anurag Thakur expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP chief J P Nadda for making him the candidate from the Hamirpur constituency. He said that BJP will win all four Lok Sabha seats in Himachal Pradesh and will cross the 400 mark and Narendra Modi will become the Prime Minister again.
Taunt on Rahul Gandhi
Anurag Thakur targeted the guarantees given by Congress across the country and took a dig at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's Nari Nyaya Guarantee Scheme. "How can the party which has done the most injustice do justice?" the Union Minister asked.
'When did you start taking Rahul Gandhi seriously? When the country itself is not serious about them (Congress). Whose family and party ruled the country for 60 years. Despite that, half of the country's population did not have bank accounts, there were no toilets in their homes, crores of people were living in slums. How can justice be expected from those who have only committed injustice? Congress made the poor poorer.
"BJP took the poor out of the poverty line. Congress looted every penny of the country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi saved every penny and used it for the welfare of the poor," added the senior BJP leader, who was also the BCCI President.
Anurag Thakur has won from the Hamirpur parliamentary constituency four times in a row. In 2008, Anurag Thakur reached Lok Sabha after winning the by-election. After this, he won the Lok Sabha elections from Hamirpur in 2009, 2014 and 2019. Now for the fifth time, Anurag Thakur is contesting from Hamirpur.
During the Dharampur visit, he targeted the Congress government in Himachap Pradesh led by Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu. Sukhu had blamed the BJP for the ongoing political turmoil in the hill state.
Reacting to Sukhu's comments, Anurag Thakur said, "Someone does it and someone else fills it. These are the actions of Congress, which came to power by making big promises and lying. For 15 months, the public has been waiting for the guarantees to be fulfilled. Women have not yet received Rs 1,500 per month. Till now, each woman has suffered a loss of Rs 21,000."
"It had talked about providing jobs to five lakh youth, it had talked about purchasing cow dung at Rs 2 per kg, milk at Rs 100 per litre, it had talked about providing Rs 600 crore startup fund, but not a single guarantee has been fulfilled. The state government has failed. When the MLAs asked questions on this, he (Sukhu) could not answer, so the MLAs left. Congress had 43 MLAs and BJP had 25. Yet the BJP won the (Rajya Sabha) election and the Congress lost," he added.
Anurag Thakur further said wherever the state government gives land, stadiums will be built in those areas. He asserted that Dharampur has developed after joining Hamirpur parliamentary constituency.
"There is a lot of enthusiasm among the people and everyone wants the Narendra Modi government to be formed again," he concluded.
