BJP’s Shimla MP Suresh Kashyap battles charges of absence

Solan: Battling allegations of remaining absent from the constituency, BJP’s Shimla MP Suresh Kashyap has a Herculean task at hand.

Hailing from Sirmaur district, allegations of playing truant in districts like Solan which has five Assembly segments and Shimla which has seven Assembly segments were making the party uncomfortable. The MP was now trying to catch up by visiting all Assembly segments of his area.

“Suresh Kashyap had kick-started his election campaigning soon after being granted the ticket on March 26. He has already completed one visit to all 17 Assembly segments which fall under the Shimla Lok Sabha seat. He has now begun two-day tour of each segment,” informed Karan Nanda, state BJP’s media cell.

Kashyap, when quizzed said, “People are disillusioned with the Congress over one-year rule in the state and they were trying to create a false propaganda about my absence from the constituency. I’ve spent Rs 18.23 crore on 94 works, including Rs 7.49 lakh post-monsoon works. I’ve been meeting the people and sanctioned all these works based on the demands raised by the people in all three districts.”

BJP believes that the early announcement of the candidate has helped the party in initiating the campaigning early and spend more than two months in the field while the Congress failed to reap that advantage.

Congress announced its candidate on April 21 fielding Kasauli MLA Vinod Sultanpuri. Being a first-time MLA, he is yet to be introduced to the voters though he has now begun an intensive campaigning in all three districts. His father Krishan Dutt Sultanpuri was a six-term MP.

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has been spearheading Sultanpuri’s campaign by addressing rallies in Solan, Sirmaur and Shimla districts.