Amid the ongoing war of words over the outcome of the Panchayati Raj and urban local body elections in Himachal Pradesh, Public Works Minister Vikramaditya Singh on Tuesday accused the BJP of making “baseless” claims of victory for political mileage.
Addressing mediapersons, Vikramaditya targeted state BJP president Rajeev Bindal, challenging him to prove that the victorious candidates in the panchayat polls belonged to the BJP. He asserted that panchayat elections are traditionally not contested on party lines and that it was misleading to portray the results as a mandate in favour of any political party.
“I dare Bindal ji to prove that those elected as Pradhans and Up-Pradhans are BJP-backed candidates. Such sweeping claims are nothing but wishful thinking aimed at gaining cheap publicity,” he said.
The minister maintained that most winners in the rural polls were independent of political affiliations and owed their success to local support, personal relations and grassroots issues rather than party ideology. He added that Assembly elections alone reflect public opinion on the performance of political parties and state-level governance.
