PM plays development card

It was only on Sunday that the Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi attacked the BJP during his poll campaigns in Kullu and Mandi districts, saying it was dividing the society on communal lines. In his election speech at Bilaspur on Monday, however, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh chose to stick to development issue instead. He talked about turning Himachal into a hub for educational institutes and provide funds to sustain development in the state. “We propose to make Himachal akin to Switzerland and bring in investments in the tourism sector,” he said, while seeking votes for the Congress to sustain an “environment for development”, which he claimed the party has created in the state during the past four-and-a-half years.

The development in the state, he claimed, had come to a standstill during the previous BJP government. “The BJP Government, on the pretext of empty coffers, stalled development and did nothing to frame new policies. It was the Congress Government that put development back on tracks. Thanks to the efforts of this Government, the state saw an investment worth Rs 27,000 core in the industrial sector,” he said.

The Prime Minister added that keeping in view the conditions in the hill state, the Centre had extended the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme to four more districts. From April next, all 12 districts of the state will be benefited by the scheme.