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Virbhadra Singh accused of bias against Kangra district

Our Correspondent

Leaders demand better representation for the district

SHIMLA: Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, who has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of fomenting regional divide in the State, is facing a similar allegation from his own party men. A number of his party colleagues are accusing him of a step-motherly treatment to Kangra, the biggest district in the State with 16 seats in the Assembly. Kangra district, along with Una and Hamirpur, is called the lower belt of Himachal Pradesh.

The traditional leadership of Congress belongs to the upper regions of the State led by the Shimla district. Due to availability of variety of cash crops like apple and off season vegetables, the upper belt has become very prosperous and its dominance in politics is also evident. All Congress Chief Ministers including Y.S. Parmar, Thakur Ram Lal and Virbhadra Singh belonged to the upper regions. Many former PCC presidents, including Vidya Stokes, are from this region of the state. Although Shimla sends only 8 MLAs to the Assembly, yet it had a clear dominance in the State politics much to the discomfort of Kangra politicians.

During the recent downsizing exercise of the Ministry, all the Cabinet Ministers who were shown the door were from Kangra district. They were Vijay Singh Mankotia, Chandresh Kumari, and Brij Biharilal Bhutail. Of the 11 Congress MLAs from Kangra only two are left in the Ministry. From Shimla out of five Congress MLAs, three are Cabinet Ministers including the Chief Minister. The Kangra Congressmen are questioning this prejudice right from the beginning.

The Kangra leaders are now openly demanding better representation for the district in the State Administration. Kewal Singh Pathania, a former Minister, has written to the Congress President Sonia Gandhi in this regard. Senior Congress leader Major Mankotia has been raising the issue for quite sometime now.

The party High Command has reportedly been flooded with complaints in this regard.

To counter such allegations, the Chief Minister has declared the formation of an independent commission to assess charges of bias against Kangra.

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Virbhadra Singh accused of bias against Kangra district

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