Other States - Himachal Pradesh   

LJP decides to go it alone

SHIMLA: Not getting any response from the Congress or any other United Progressive Alliance constituent in the State, the Lok Jan Shakti Party on Wednesday decided to contest the upcoming Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections on its own and released a final list of 65 candidates.

The LJP general secretary in charge of Himachal, Subhash Sharma, said Congress president Sonia Gandhi was ready for an alliance with the LJP but the Congress leadership in the State refused to play ball.

“It was not ready to give us any seats in Himachal. But the talks are still on in Gujarat and we are hopeful of getting a few seats in a pre-poll alliance there with the Congress,” he said.

“Corruption in high places and unemployment will be our main issues in the ensuing elections and we will expose both the Congress and the BJP,” claimed Mr. Sharma.

He expressed surprise at the BJP’s choice of the Chief Minister nominee, Prem Kumar Dhumal, against whom his own party men had levelled serious charges of corruption.

The LJP leader claimed that despite his party having just one MLA in the outgoing Vidhan Sabha, a number of projects had been got sanctioned for the hill State.

The Steel Authority of India is setting up a Rs.250-crore steel plant at Nahan inthe State.

At least four chemical hubs have been sanctioned for the State along with a massive Rs.12,500-crore private sector steel plant for the State, he added.

Mr Sharma said a number of schemes like concessions for the girl child, crop insurance, free girls education and wild animal menace in rural areas would be included in the party manifesto which is to be released by its president Ram Vilas Paswan on December 5.

Meanwhile, a number of candidates filed their nominations on Wednesday various parts of the State.

A number of intellectual, lawyers, academicians, students and construction workers accompanied the CPI (M) candidate Sanjay Chauhan on his way to the District Magistrate’s office to file the nominations.

Congress candidate Harbhajan Singh has already filed his nomination and the BJP candidate Mr. Suresh Bhardwaj will file his papers on Thursday for the prestigious Shimla seat.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

LJP decides to go it alone

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu