UPA will form next Central government: ex-Himachal CM

Shimla, April 30 (IANS) Congress veteran and former six-time Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh on Tuesday said the Congress-led UPA would form the next government at the Centre under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi.

"The BJP government and Narendra Modi at the Centre have failed to come up to the expectations of the people of the country," Singh said in a statement.

He said the Central government's failure to check price rise, massive unemployment, poverty, demonetisation, levying Goods and Services Tax (GST) and many other anti-people measures were responsible for the failure of the BJP government.

Saying that he is a true Congress soldier and that the party has assigned him the major responsibility of campaigning in Himachal Pradesh, Singh said the people of Hamirpur Lok Sabha constituency would definitely vote for the Congress as they have suffered the lack of performance of the BJP candidate Anurag Thakur.

"The people are remembering all-round development made in the state during the Congress government," he said.

Singh clarified that both he and former Union Telecom Minister Sukh Ram were campaigning jointly for the Congress' Mandi Lok Sabha constituency candidate Ashray Sharma.

"The Jai Ram Thakur-led government in the state has totally failed to deliver and fulfil the promises made to the people in the last 15 months of its rule. Development in the state has come to a total standstill," he added.

Himachal Pradesh's four Lok Sabha seats -- Shimla (reserved), Kangra, Hamirpur and Mandi -- will vote on May 19.