SHIMLA: Himachal Pradesh chief minister Jai Ram Thakur has outrightly rejected the claim of Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia about the BJP high command going to replace him with the Union minister Anurag Thakur. He also rubbished Sisodia’s claim of AAP’s successful rally in Mandi on Wednesday leaving BJP worried, saying only 3,000 people attended it and a similar number of people are normally out in the township on any regular day. He added that AAP’s Mandi rally was a flop show as no leader joined the party, as claimed.
Addressing a press conference in Delhi , Sisodia had said the BJP was scared of the growing popularity of AAP in Himachal Pradesh. “We have learnt from very reliable sources that the BJP wants to replace chief minister Jai Ram Thakur with Anurag Thakur, as it is scared of the popularity of Arvind Kejriwal and his model of governance in Delhi,” Sisodia claimed.
Hitting back, Thakur said Kejriwal’s rally was below expectations as only 3,000 people were there and that a similar number of people are normally found roaming in Mandi on regular days. He said as compared to AAP’s Mandi rally, people present in his assembly constituency Seraj on Wednesday for BJP’s foundation day programme were four-times more, while those in the fair at Sundernagar on the same day were five-fold more.
Thakur said that AAP leaders had claimed that many big faces would join the party in the Mandi rally, but not a single leader of the state had done so. Making false claims about the success of the rally has no meaning, he said while rejecting the claims of leadership change in Himachal made by AAP leaders.
