SHIMLA: Celebrations held to mark the golden jubilee of statehood of Himachal Pradesh on Friday witnessed barbed remarks being exchanged between Union minister for information and broadcasting, sports and youth affairs Anurag Singh Thakur and leader of opposition and former Congress minister Mukesh Agnihotri.
Seeing Agnihotri raise demands concerning the state before President Ram Nath Kovind and giving credit to his own party leaders for the creation and development of Himachal during the special session, Anurag said some events should be kept out of politics.
In his address during the special session, Agnihotri gave credit for the creation of the state to Congress leaders. He said without late Dr Y S Parmar (first chief minister of state) and late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Himachal Pradesh would not have come into existence. He said former chief minister Virbhadra Singh played a key role in the development of state and had increased the strength of MLAs in the House from 48 to 68. He requested the President to constitute a Himachal Regiment or Himalayan Regiment, keeping in view the immense role that the youth of Himachal play in the armed forces. He also raised the issue of lack of air and rail connectivity in the state.
While addressing the gathering for former MLAs and MPs later, Anurag countered Agnihotri, saying basic goal should be to take all along. He said that if discussion is held on who provided the special industrial package to the state in last 50 years, then name of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee come up. It was Vajpayee who launched Prime Minister Gramin Sadak Yojana to connect rural areas of the state with roads and he also took the initiative to construct the Rohtang tunnel, he said. It also needs to be looked into who spread the network of roads in the state and who ensured tapped water to every household and who was instrumental in speeding up hydro power generation to make state a power surplus state, he added.
Agnihotri told media persons that when the special assembly session was held on May 24, 2013, then leader of opposition Dhumal he had also raised similar demands before then President Pranab Mukherjee. History cannot be changed as Parmar and Indira Gandhi were instrumental in the creation of the state. When Punjab Regiment, Gorkha Regiment, Kumaun Regiment and Maratha Regiment could be created, then why not Himachal Regiment, he added. Himachal also needs to get its due share as per the agreement of Punjab Reorganisation Act, he said.
