Like UP, AAP won't be able to open its account even in HP: Anurag Thakur

Shimla: Like Uttar Pradesh, the Aam Aadmi Party will not be able to open its electoral account even in Himachal Pradesh, Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur said on Friday.

The AAP could not win any of the 403 seats in the recent Uttar Pradesh assembly elections and lost even its security deposit on most of the seats, Thakur said while interacting with reporters after addressing a programme in Chamba near here.

The AAP will meet the same fate in HP, he said, adding like UP, the AAP would not be able to win even a single seat in the Himachal Pradesh assembly elections likely to be held by the year-end.

Without naming AAP, Thakur asked what type of performance could be expected from a party whose state president, organising general secretary and women cell chief have left the party.

Hitting out at the Congress, the Information and Broadcasting minister said inflation had reached a double-digit figure of 14 per cent during the UPA government between 2004 and 2014 without any valid reason.

He said the inflation has risen presently due to the supply chain having been hit badly due to the Covid pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war.

Counting achievements of the Narendra Modi government, he said 190 crores Covid injections were administered free of cost in the country.

Similarly, free food grains were given free of cost to the below-poverty-line families till this month during Covid, he added.

Speaking at a programme on National Urban Livelihood Mission and Youth Incentive at Chowgan earlier, he said Prime Minister Modi has already declared Chamba as an aspirational district and in coming years, it would be far ahead among developed districts in the country.

Thakur also mooted the idea of developing Chamba as a heritage town to lure tourists from all over the world.

He said a heritage walk can be started by identifying heritage buildings in Chamba so that more and more tourists visit this beautiful place.

He also promised to take the art, craft and culture of Chamba at world level to attract more tourists here.