Bhopal, Nov 11 (IANS): Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Wednesday accused the Congress of compromising national security for vote-bank politics during its decades in power, while responding to questions about former party President Sonia Gandhi’s newly released memoir during his visit to Bhopal. Dhami, who was in the Madhya Pradesh capital Bhopal to meet the Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and offer condolences over the death of his mother Kashi Bai, said he had not read Sonia Gandhi’s book ‘Belonging: A Journey of Love’, and would comment on it only after going through its contents. “I have not read the book yet. I have only heard about it.
I will go through it and understand its contents before making any comment,” he said responding to the reporters’ queries. However, he alleged that the Congress had followed an ideology centred on appeasement and vote-bank politics and had failed to prioritise the interests of the country during its long tenure in power. The Uttarakhand CM said that successive Congress governments had not done enough to strengthen the morale of soldiers guarding the country’s borders. Referring to the demand for ‘One Rank One Pension’ (OROP), Dhami alleged that military personnel had waited for four decades for its implementation, but the issue remained unresolved under Congress governments. Contrasting this with the present Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, the Uttarakhand CM said India was progressing rapidly under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership and making significant advances in space exploration while emerging as a major global economy.
Dhami also cited India’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly the development of indigenous vaccines and the contribution of scientists and government agencies, as an example of the country’s growing capabilities. “People are repeatedly giving their mandate to the government, while those who want to oppose it keep looking for one excuse or another to criticise it,” he said. During Bhopal visit, Dhami also paid tribute to former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Sunderlal Patwa on his birth anniversary, describing him as one of the key figures in the BJP’s organisational growth. He said Patwa had dedicated his life to building the party in Madhya Pradesh and across the country. Patwa, born on November 11, 1924, served as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister twice and was also a Union minister in former PM late Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.
