Congress Government Only Laid Foundation Stones: Uttarakhand's Dhami

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Tuesday said the Congress government only laid foundation stones of projects and left them at that while the BJP government was completing the ones it had started.

Taking a dig at Congress leaders for often trying to grab credit for development works done over the past five years of the BJP rule in the state, Mr Dhami said that is the difference between the two parties.

"You (Congress) only laid the foundation stones of projects during your time and left them at that while we begin and complete them," Mr Dhami said at a virtual rally here.

Work is underway on a war footing on all the projects that the BJP took up after taking over whether it is Kedarnath reconstruction, Chardham all weather road or the much awaited Rishikesh-Karnaprayag rail line, he said.

The Centre under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sanctioned projects worth Rs 1.5 lakh crore for Uttarakhand over the past five years out of which work on many has already begun, Mr Dhami said.

"Two phases of reconstruction work at Kedarnath has already been completed while work has already begun on projects to be taken up in the third. The reconstruction work at Badrinath in accordance with a masterplan is also in the process," he said.

The Dehradun airport has been upgraded already from its earlier capacity of accommodating 250 people at a time to 1,600 people, and it is now on its way to becoming a world class airport.

He mentioned the unprecedented work done in the road sector and credited the "double engine" government for all the infrastructural projects initiated over the past five years.

Mr Dhami also attacked the Congress for its "disregard" for the armed forces saying how its leaders had called late Gen Bipin Rawat a "streetside hooligan" and how the party was now installing his posters at its poll rallies for electoral gains.

State BJP president Madan Kaushik said people are aware of the priority being accorded to development projects in Uttarakhand by the Prime Minister and how a young Chief Minister like Mr Dhami is using all his energy and time to implement them.

He expressed confidence that seeing the work of the double engine government people will bless the party again.

"With your blessings we will definitely achieve our target of recording a bigger victory this time than in 2017," Mr Kaushik said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)