Cong vs BJP in Himachal over CM's 'missing samosas'

The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party distributed samosas in Shimla for free, a party MLA ordered 11 for Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and some even fed it to his poster on Saturday, the humble everyday snack once again a hot potato issue steaming up the politics of Himachal Pradesh. 

Taking a dig at the Congress government over the CID conducting an inquiry into the sequence of events that led to samosas meant for the chief minister being served to his security staff, Ashish Sharma, the  BJP MLA from Hamirpur, placed an online order of 11 samosas for Sukhu.

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of the saffron party, held a samosa-distribution programme in the state capital. Members of the outfit set up stalls in the city's lower bazaar area and distributed samosas among people for free.

The BJYM members also fed samosas to a poster of Sukhu.

However, the Congress maintained that the government had not ordered any such inquiry and it could be an internal matter of the CID. A top CID official has also said that no formal inquiry was ordered into the incident.

In a Facebook post in Hindi, Sharma said: "The state is already grappling with problems like unemployment, financial crisis, delay in employees' pension and arrears of DA allowance, and at such a time, ordering a CID inquiry on samosas brought for Chief Minister Sukhu is very disappointing."

He said when the people of the hill state are fighting for their rights, the government should focus on real issues and not on such small matters.

"Protesting against this, I have sent 11 samosas to the chief minister, so that I can remind him that it is more important to solve the real problems of the people," the Hamirpur MLA added.

On October 21, Sukhu had gone to attend a programme at the CID headquarters in Shimla, where samosas and cakes brought for the chief minister were served to his staff instead.

Subsequently, CID officials ordered an inquiry into the episode. A noting by a senior official on the inquiry report said the act was anti-government and anti-CID.

Sudhir Sharma, the BJP MLA from Dharamshala, said the Congress government has made Himachal Pradesh a laughing stock in the country.

Both the MLAs are known critics of Sukhu. They were among the nine legislators, including Congress rebels and Independents, who had voted against the Congress in the Rajya Sabha polls held earlier in the year. They later joined the BJP and won bypolls.

State BJP vice-president and Kangra MP Rajiv Bharadwaj asked what was inside the box, along with the samosas, that prompted the government to order an inquiry.

The BJYM members raised slogans against the government for ignoring serious issues and probing petty matters.

State BJYM president Tilak Raj said people are unhappy with the government, educated and unemployed youngsters are struggling to get jobs, but the CID is probing non-serving of samosas.

He claimed that the law-and-order situation has deteriorated in the state, drug abuse is on the rise among youngsters, including school-going children, of the 1,170 youngsters in the age group of 15-30 years admitted at rehabilitation centres, 35 per cent are "chitta" addicts, but the government is not bothered.

State BJP media in-charge Karan Nanda said the government has failed on all fronts. Himachal Pradesh, which is known as "dev bhoomi", is in news these days for all the wrong reasons, such as toilet tax, freight tax and and an inquiry into samosas, he said.

On the other hand, Congress leaders accused the BJP of raising the controversy only to harass the chief minister politically.

A Congress spokesperson said the BJP is bent upon harming the cause of the state government.

Naresh Chauhan, media advisor to the chief minister, said the government did not order any such inquiry and it could be an internal matter of the CID, a stance maintained by the agency as well.

Sukhu had on Friday said the probe was into the "misbehaviour" of officials but the media presented it as an inquiry into missing samosas and claimed that the BJP has been running a smear campaign against the Congress government since his party secured a majority in the Assembly election.

Reiterating that it was an internal matter, CID Director General Ranjhan Ojha said in Shimla on Friday, "The chief minister was the chief guest at the launch of a data centre for the cyber-crime wing. After the event, the officials were having tea in the office when someone asked where were the eatables brought for the function and we said -- 'pata karo kya hua' (find out what happened)."

"Neither have we issued any notice nor called for any explanation. The matter should not be politicised. We simply asked for a clarification as to what happened and a written report was submitted. We have no intention of taking action against anyone."