New Delhi: The near-constant credit warfare between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Occasion (BJP) took a recent flip Friday, with newly-elected Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu asserting that an outdated plaque bearing the identify of former Congress president Sonia Gandhi can be restored close to the Atal Tunnel. The tunnel which connects Manali in Himachal with Leh within the Union Territory of Ladakh is licensed because the world’s longest freeway tunnel above 10,000 ft.
Sukhu mentioned that whereas the tunnel, named after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is not going to be renamed, the names of those that had laid the muse stone for it will likely be restored.
Sharing a picture of the tunnel on the microblogging web site Twitter, Sukhu wrote, “Neither will Atal Tunnel be renamed, nor would the plaque change. Nonetheless, a plaque for individuals who laid the muse of Rohtang tunnel will certainly be added.”
न अटल टनल का नाम बदलेगा न पट्टिका हटेगी, लेकिन रोहतांग टनल का शिलान्यास करवाने वालों की पट्टिका भी जरूर लगेगी । pic.twitter.com/ixXK8jmuHq
— Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu (@SukhuSukhvinder) December 16, 2022
Whereas Sukhu’s announcement got here Friday, the choice to revive the plaque with Gandhi’s identify was reportedly taken on 13 December, days after the Congress received the meeting elections in Himachal with a transparent majority, changing the then incumbent BJP authorities within the state.
Whereas BJP state spokesperson Randhir Sharma had earlier within the week warned of protests if current plaque bearing Vajpayee’s identify was eliminated and claimed, “Sonia Gandhi had solely carried out the ‘bhumi pujan’, whereas your entire work was undertaken by Vajpayee and the Union authorities”, because the tunnel’s identify has not been modified, it has mentioned it’s ‘okay’ with the restoration of the plaque bearing Gandhi’s identify.
“We had warned them of protests if the identify of late Shri Atal Bihar Vajpayee was eliminated. The tunnel was his concept. We is not going to tolerate any adjustments to the identify of this tunnel. So far as I do know, the occasion is placing the muse stone again. We should not have an issue with it so long as the tunnel’s identify stays Atal,” Rakesh Jamwal, basic secretary of the Himachal Pradesh unit of the BJP instructed ThePrint Saturday.
Credit warfare between the 2 events shouldn’t be new and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has on a number of events spoken of how the UPA authorities left initiatives incomplete throughout its tenure. He has additionally emphasised that many delayed infrastructure initiatives have been taken up, fast-tracked, and accomplished because the BJP has been in energy on the Union in 2014.
Additionally learn: Pending below UPA, dashing below NDA — 10 big-ticket infra initiatives that picked up after 2014
Tussle over Atal tunnel
The muse stone of the Atal Tunnel was laid in 2010 by former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, together with then metal minister within the UPA authorities, Virbhadra Singh after which Himachal CM Prem Kumar Dhumal.
The tunnel’s building had been accredited by Vajpayee in 2000, it was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in October 2020.
Whereas Gandhi was not formally part of the federal government on the time the muse stone for the tunnel was laid, she was then heading the Nationwide Advisory Council, created below the UPA, to advise then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on coverage formulation and monitoring of presidency programmes. This reportedly gave Gandhi a rank and standing of a cupboard minister, which is believed to led to her identify being inscribed on the tunnel plaque.
The plaque bearing the names of Gandhi and the others who had laid the tunnel’s basis, allegedly went lacking the day Modi opened it to public, prompting the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee to guide a protest exterior the Lahaul and Spiti District headquarters in 2020.
In line with native studies, the district administration has already acquired in contact with Border Roads Organisation and determined the place the muse stone can be positioned.
The row over the credit score for the Atal tunnel had reportedly began even earlier than the Sukhu authorities was sworn in.
On the time of Mandi parliamentary bypolls, received by Congress chief Pratibha Singh final 12 months, former chief of the Congress’s Himachal unit, Kuldeep Singh Rathore, had demanded the restoration of the plaque bearing Gandhi’s identify.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
Additionally learn: ‘Nadda’s interventions, misplaced give attention to PoK over OPS’ — many causes for BJP’s Himachal loss