Congress can't run Himachal govt even for one day without Centre's help: J P Nadda

Shimla/Bilaspur: Union Health Minister J P Nadda on Friday alleged that the Congress cannot run the Himachal Pradesh government without the Centre's support even for a day.

Addressing a programme organised by the state unit of BJP in Bilaspur, Nadda said the central government gives Rs 500 crore as revenue deficit grant and Rs 800 crore as grant for payment of salaries and pension.

Claiming that Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu speaks in "two languages", the BJP national president said, "In Himachal Pradesh and during elections, he says the state gets nothing from the Centre, while in Delhi, he expresses gratitude for the financial help and pleads for more." "Congress cannot run a government in Himachal Pradesh even for one day without the help of the Centre but the state government has no account of where the money is being spent," he said.

Nadda said Sukhu "has broken all records" of previous Congress governments by not giving monthly salaries to state government employees on the first day of this September, terming it to be the "biggest disaster" of the current government.

The minister also claimed that in Congress-ruled states, drug addiction is rising. Drugs worth Rs 5,600 crore belonging to a Congress leader was seized recently, he said.

"Congress means corruption, criminalisation and commission," the BJP leader added.

The Congress government in the state was a "reverse-gear government", where all development work started by the previous BJP government have been stalled or stopped, Nadda said.

Giving a "report card" of the 100 days of the Union government, the health minister said that six crore people have been linked with the Ayushman Bharat scheme that provides Rs 5 lakh health cover every year.

Approval for infrastructure projects worth Rs 3 lakh crore, 12 industrial smart cities, eight high-speed national road corridors and eight railway lines has been given by the central government, he said.