PM Modi neither helped Himachal in the disaster, nor increased the import duty on apples three times: Congress

Industries Minister Harsh Vardhan Chauhan and Revenue Minister Jagat Singh Negi said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi remembers Himachal Pradesh only during elections and he comes to Himachal Pradesh to ask for votes. During election days, Modi ji comes to Himachal and does vote politics by talking like Sepu Badi and Madre, but he has no emotional attachment with Himachal Pradesh. If he really had any relation with Himachal and the people of Himachal, then in the biggest tragedy in the history of the state, he would have come to Himachal, known about the condition of the affected people and helped. He said that last monsoon, during the biggest disaster in the history of Himachal Pradesh, more than 550 people died and more than 22 thousand families were affected. But the Prime Minister did not express any condolences to the families of the deceased nor did he heal the wounds of Himachal Pradesh. Chauhan and Negi said that Chief Minister Thakur Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu repeatedly visited Delhi to meet the Prime Minister and central leaders and demanded from them a special relief package for Himachal Pradesh. But the central government did not give a single penny to 22 thousand disaster affected families. The Congress government of the state has rehabilitated the disaster affected families with its own resources by giving them a special economic package of Rs 4500 crore, whereas the Central Government has no contribution in this.

In a joint statement, both said that during the ten-year tenure of the BJP government at the Centre, the development of Himachal Pradesh was ignored and the people of the state were betrayed in the name of double engine government. The result was that Himachal Pradesh got stuck in the quagmire of debt. He said that in the last elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to increase the import duty on apples by three times, but he did not keep it. On the contrary, the import duty on apples was reduced to 50 percent, due to which the apple growers of Himachal Pradesh have broken their backs. He said that due to increase in import of foreign apples, today the growers of apples kept in cold stores are not getting fair prices and are facing losses. Both of them said that due to the wrong policies of the Central Government, the state’s apple business worth Rs 5000 crore is in trouble and thousands of families directly and indirectly associated with apple gardening are facing loss of livelihood.

Chauhan and Negi said that Narendra Modi is once again visiting Himachal Pradesh during the election days and then he will remember Sepu Badi and Madre. But it would have been better if he had known about the pain and suffering of Himachal Pradesh in the disaster and would have soothed the wounds of the people and increased the import duty in the interest of apple growers. He said that the people of Himachal Pradesh are certainly innocent, but this time they are not going to fall prey to his statements. This time, Modi’s words will have no impact on the people of the state and all four Lok Sabha seats will go to the Congress party.