New Delhi (Agency): In response to the devastation caused by heavy rains in Himachal Pradesh, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Friday targeted BJP Members of Parliament (MPs) and his own party leader, Pratibha Singh. He questioned whether the four parliamentarians had raised the issue in Delhi and expressed concerns for the people in the affected state.
Sukhu also responded to a comment made about “Bihari architects” allegedly made by him. He told PTI that the BJP should “stop playing politics.”
Taking a jab at the four MPs elected from the Congress-ruled state, Sukhu appreciated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and BJP president J P Nadda had at least called to inquire about the situation. However, he criticized the four MPs from the state, suggesting that they failed to voice the concerns of the people.
While he did not name them directly, Sukhu was apparently referring to the three BJP MPs — Anurag Thakur (Hamirpur), Suresh Kashyap (Shimla), and Kishan Kapoor (Kangra) — along with Pratibha Singh, who represents Mandi and also serves as the Congress state unit president.
Interestingly, Singh has shown interest in the chief minister’s position and had previously expressed her grievances with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge over the lack of coordination between the party and the state government.
Union minister Anurag Thakur reacted strongly to Sukhu’s reported remarks, where the Chief Minister blamed construction workers from Bihar, referred to as “Bihari architects,” for the destruction in Shimla, one of the districts severely affected by the rains.
Sukhu was quoted as saying, “The houses collapsing these days have not gone through the standards of structural engineering, the migrant architects (masons) whom I call Bihari architects come here and construct floor to floor. We do not have local masons.”
However, the Chief Minister has strongly denied making such a statement. “Show me the statement. I have not given any such statement and asked the opposition to stop politics in this hour of distress,” he told PTI.
The situation in Himachal Pradesh has become a political battleground, with different parties and leaders using the devastation to point fingers and assign blame. While the situation on the ground calls for unity and immediate action, political accusations and disputes seem to dominate the conversation.