On Thursday, Shimla, May 9: Congress leaders Vikramaditya Singh and Anand Sharma filed their nomination papers from the Mandi and Kangra Lok Sabha seats, respectively.
While Singh attacked BJP candidate Kangana Ranaut in an oblique reference, Sharma shunned the "outsider" tag and said they had never questioned why Prime Minister Narendra Modi, hailing from Gujarat, contested elections from Varanasi.
"We are doing politics of development, she is doing politics of entertainment," said Singh, adding that this "picture" directed by Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur would fail at the "box office" on June 1.
Singh, who was accompanied by his mother and state Congress chief Pratibha Singh, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and Congress Working Committee (CWC) member and Himachal in-charge Rajiv Shukla, said, "Kangana is abusing Congress leaders from the stage but in the past 20-25 days, she had not even once spelt out her vision for the constituency.
"Kangana had started her campaign 20-25 days back and from morning to evening, she used abusive words for us but has not uttered a single word on her vision for this parliamentary constituency", he said, adding that she should tell people what she wanted to do.
Mandi would be made a smart city and the Jalori Jot tunnel would be constructed on the line of the Rohtang tunnel. Singh told reporters that the remote Pangi area of Chamba would also be connected through the tunnel.
"I would take forward the long and deep relation with the people of Mandi", the Congress candidate, who is the son of late chief minister Virbhadra Singh, said.
Scion of erstwhile Rampur estate, Singh is pitted against actor and BJP candidate Kangana Ranaut.
Elaborating on the achievements of the Congress, Singh said the party has opened IIT at Mandi, a medical college at Nerchowk and has been instrumental in the construction of the Kirathpur-Nerchowk four-lane.
"We stood with the people of Mandi during the worst monsoon disaster last year and will continue to be with them, and I have got Rs 3,500 crore for the state from the Centre," he added.
Besides the development agenda, long pending matters related to Goods and Service tax, revenue deficit grant and old pension scheme would also be taken up with the Union government after the party wins, he assured the people of Mandi.
"Change of winds are visible in the country and after the first three phases of Lok Sabha polls, the BJP has been washed out in the South and halved in the North", he claimed.
The Congress government in the state would continue with its development and welfare agenda for the next three-and-a-half years, he said while exuding confidence that his party would also win all the six assembly seats in the by-polls.
Interacting with the media, Sukhu claimed that he has extensively toured the constituency and people are praising the policies of the Congress government and the efforts made during the monsoon disaster. They are against the BJP for allegedly not standing with the state during the disaster.
"Vikramaditya Singh would win by a margin of over two lakh," said Sukhu.
After filing the nomination, Anand Sharma rejected the "outsider" tag given to him by the BJP and said that he is a Himachali, born in Shimla. "We have never questioned that PM Narendra Modi is from Gujarat and contesting from Varanasi, we do not have such a small mindset," he said.
Sharma, a four-time Rajya Sabha member and former Union minister who would take on BJP candidate Rajeev Bhardwaj, was accompanied by Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania and Cabinet Minister Chander Kumar.
"This is not a new place for me and we are going to the people and trying to convey our message to every voter. Our focus would be on promoting eco-tourism and adventure sports in Kangra and Chamba districts falling under the Kangra Lok Sabha seat," Sharma said while talking to media persons.
Expansion of railways and setting up central institutions and a trade park in Chamba would also be the priorities, and at present 11 out of 16 MLAs in the Kangra parliamentary seat are from the Congress, while one seat of Dharamshala is going for by-polls along with the Lok Sabha elections, he added.
"This is an election between honesty and corruption and the issue of horse-trading by the BJP would be kept before the people, besides public welfare work undertaken by the state government like restoration of the Old Pension Scheme and Rs 1,500 monthly to women," said CM Sukhu.
Both the leaders held a rally after filing their nominations, and CM Sukhu was present in both the rallies.
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