Congress united in HP, claims Rathore

Nahan, Mar 21 (UNI) Congress is united in Himachal Pradesh and will put up a united fight in the coming Lok Sabha polls to win all the four parliamentary seats, party's general secretary Kuldeep Rathore said today.

''There are no differences within the party over any issue and the party is united behind AICC president Sonia Gandhi and will fight the coming Lok Sabha polls unitedly,'' he said at a press conference here.

Mr Rathore, also the state party's spokesman, said the party will hold public meeting at every district headquarters from Sunday onwards about the government's functioning during the last three months after coming to power.

Terming the Dhumal Government's decision to hike bus fares by 25 per cent as ''unwarranted and unnwelcoming'', he said this had proved that the BJP had always betrayed the people whenever they came to power in the state.

He also criticized the BJP leaders for intimidating the grassroot workers of the Congress party and said this was against the norms of democracy.

Referring to the BJP leaders claim that the state was in a financial mess, he said whenever it returned to power in the state, it had blamed the Congress for financial crises then concentrating on uniform development of the state.

The BJP Government that had no developmental agenda is always looking for a scapegoat to lay the blame on it for its failures, he added.

UNI XC AS HS MSJ AS1908