Former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh has raised doubts over the unprecedented victory of the BJP in the country as well as the state. Questioning the humongous mandate to the saffron party, especially in the state, the veteran Congress leader claimed it was “impossible” for the BJP to win by such huge victory margins unless it “indulged in malpractices”.
In a landslide victory, the BJP has reigned supreme in all the four Lok Sabha constituencies in the state with every candidate winning by a margin of at least over 3 lakh votes.
“This is only possible by manipulation of machines and misleading the masses during the last moments into the elections. Or it might be possible that money has been used. Any of these reasons can be there. They have no shortage of money. They spent crores on a single constituency,” claimed the former six-time chief minister.
The former CM also took a dig at chief minister Jairam Thakur denying him the credit for victory in the state. “He spent most of the time in his assembly constituency (Seraj). He never ventured out of it. How can the victory in the state be attributed to him. This is a victory of the BJP workers, RSS workers, and the whole party,” he said.
Asked if Ashray Sharma, the grandson of former union telecom minister, Pandit Sukh Ram, was an appropriate candidate choice from Mandi, the veteran leader said he was “imposed” by the high command.
“As far as Pandit Ji’s grandson is concerned, it is to be made clear that we didn’t give him a ticket. Nor did we see his face before giving a ticket. He was imposed on us from above,” he said in a statement which could open up a can of worms in the state Congress in the days to come.
The results in BJP also spell trouble for the Congress as it has secured lead in all the 68 constituencies in the state, a feat never accomplished so far. This includes Virbhadra’s citadels of Rampur, Rohru, and Arki, a seat currently represented by him in the Vidhan Sabha.
“I addressed huge gatherings in Rohru. People had come from faraway places to listen to me. It was same in Rampur and the other places I visited. I am myself shocked to see why this happened,” said Virbhadra Singh.
Notably, the BJP has increased its vote share from 53.85 per cent in 2014 to 69.11 in 2019. Similarly, the Congress has seen a dip of around 13 per cent having secured a mere 27.30 per cent votes this time.
Meanwhile, responding to Virbhadra’s allegations Jairam Thakur said that the Congress leaders in the state were in a state of shock after the verdict.
“I went to Seraj constituency twice. Once to Chatri, once to Janjheli. A third program had to be cancelled. I was in Seraj for a mere two hours during the whole election campaigning of two months. I have toured all the 68 constituencies including his assembly constituency and the BJP has secured a huge lead from there. I also went to Rampur and Rohru and we excelled there. I addressed a total of 106 gatherings in the state as well as in other states. I think nobody gives him (Virbhadra Singh) the information or he simply doesn’t want to know it. I would only like to say that he should respect the verdict of the people,” said Jairam Thakur.
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