Chamba sitting Congress MLAs to be Cong candidates: CM

Shimla, Oct 6 (UNI) Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today indicated that former state education minister Asha Kumari will be the party's candidate from Banikhet, party's associate member in the Assembly Kuldeep Singh Pathania from Bhattiyat and Surender Singh Bhardwaj from Rajnagar constituency.

Addressing a rally at Kidhi in Chamba district on the first day of his two-day tour of the district, he said all the three sitting legislators from the district would be the party candidates in the assembly elections.

While the Congress High Command was yet to decide on nominating associate members of the party in the assembly as its official candidates since they had fought and won against the official party candidate, the Chief Minister's indication on giving ticket to Mr Pathania may not go down well with the party high command.

Mr Singh said the state had seen all round development in the state during the successive Congress government tenures, making it one of the fast developing state.

Referring to the government's achievements, he said his government had opened 22 colleges in the state during the last one year alone. ''A sum of Rs five crores will be spent on each of these colleges.'' He said the government had been successful in providing electricity to 16,916 villages of the state besides regularising over 50,000 labourers.

The Congress, on being voted to power after the assembly elections, would increase the wage of a daily employee to Rs 100, he said.

Referring to the former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal's announcement of scrapping the PTA policy on coming to power at a rally in the district during the day, he said the BJP's dream of coming to power would remain a dream.

UNI