Congress confident of winning SMC

Shimla, May 1 (UNI) The Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) today expressed confidence that the party will retain the Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) after defeating the BJP in the May 23 elections.

Addressing a press conference here, party spokesman Kuldeep Singh Rathore said Congress would win the corporation elections for which the party was united under the leadership of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and HPCC president Viplove Thakur.

Mr Rathore said the list was finalised after deliberations between the Chief Minister and the state party president and from a list prepared by a committee headed by state Irrigation and Public Health Minister Kaul Singh Thakur.

Rubbishing the BJP's claim that a large number of bogus voters have been registered in various localities of the town, he said the party has been levelling this charges every time before every elections.

He said the Congress would release its party manifesto in another two and three days and would list its priorities for keeping the town green and clean and maintaining its grandeur.

UNI