Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Friday refuted the BJP claims that the state government has ordered an inquiry into the ‘samosa case’.

According to reports, the saffron party has claimed that the Sukhu-led Congress government in the state ordered an inquiry into the case, which took place last month on October 21 when ‘samosa’ and cake meant for the Chief Minister, were accidentally served to his security staff, necessitating a CID probe that termed it an “anti-government” act.

Speaking to reporters, the Chief Minister said, “This is nonsense. BJP doesn’t have any other work.” He also clarified that the CID was involved in the issue of misbehaviour and not in the ‘samosa’ issue.

Naresh Chauhan, media advisor to the Chief Minister, said the state government has not ordered any inquiry and termed it unfortunate. The Chief Minister was the chief guest at the function, he said, adding it could be an internal matter of the CID.

All this brouhaha started when three boxes of refreshments were brought from Hotel Radisson Blue in Lakkar Bazaar to be served to the Chief Minister who had gone to the CID headquarters to attend a function. However, the eatables were served to the CM security staff, according to the enquiry report conducted by a deputy SP rank officer.

A senior official of the CID, in its report, said, “Those responsible acted according to their own agenda.”

Hitting out at the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh, the Opposition BJP said the Sukhu dispensation is not concerned about the development of the state but its only concern seems to be the “Chief Minister’s Samosa”.

“The state government is not concerned about the development of the state and its only concern seems to be the ‘Chief Minister’s Samosa’,” said BJP chief spokesperson Randhir Sharma in a statement issued here on Thursday.

He said the recent incident related to the samosas brought for Sukhu has given rise to a controversy. In the investigation, the mistake was termed as an “anti-government” act which is a big word, he said.

“This incident has become a topic of discussion in the political circles of Himachal Pradesh. In fact, the government machinery is embarrassed due to such coordination problems in a programme related to a VVIP like the Chief Minister,” Sharma said.

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Friday accused the BJP of trying to snatch the tribals’ water, forest, and land in Jharkhand. Addressing a public rally in Simdega, the Leader of Opposition said that BJP has always insulted tribal identity and has tried to snatch away their rights, but Congress will protest their water, forest and land at all costs.

The Congress MP further said that PM Modi calls the tribals vanvasi (forest dwellers) as his party believes that land, forest, and water belong to it, the RSS, and capitalists. He continued that BJP believes in grabbing tribal land under its newly-coined word, development, and wants to snatch land, water, forests from them.

Rahul Gandhi, who has been repeatedly claiming that the Constitution was under constant attack from the BJP, echoed his charge, adding that the Congress-led INDIA bloc was making all efforts to protect the Constitution. He also vowed to remove the 50% cap on reservation.

He mentioned that if Congress is voted to power, they will raise the reservation of Scheduled Tribes to 28% from 26%; from 10% to 12% for the Scheduled Castes, and for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) to 27% from 14%.

Reiterating on caste census, Gandhi mentioned the exercise was a must to identify the participation of tribals, Dalits, and OBCs in various institutions and wealth of the country. Alleging that PM Modi became silent when the issue of Caste Census was raised in the Parliament, the Congress MP claimed that he wants 90% of the people to get participation, while BJP wants the country to be run by a few people like Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and Ambani-Adani.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing a rally in Maharashtra today said that it was due to BJP efforts that an Adivasi woman Droupadi Murmu became the first Adivasi President of the country.

Jharkhand will hold elections on November 13 and 20. The counting of votes is scheduled for November 23.

The Congress on Friday said the outgoing Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud’s legacy will continue to be debated. Today was his last working day as the Chief Justice of India. Justice Chandrachud took over as the CJI on 8 November 2022.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said as the main petitioner in at least two very important matters, including a legislation being arbitrarily declared a money bill, he has been “deeply disappointed” with the CJI.

“Today is the last working day for the retiring Chief Justice of India. His legacy will continue to be debated, as indeed it should be. Personally, as the main petitioner in at least two very important matters, I have been deeply disappointed,” Ramesh said in a post on X.

The senior-most judge after the outgoing CJI, Justice Sanjiv Khanna, has been appointed as the 51st Chief Justice of India. He will take oath on 11 November, a day after incumbent Justice Chandrachud demits office on attaining the age of 65.

“First, the brave judge who in his Sept 2018 dissenting judgment called the Aadhar Bill’s passage as a Money Bill a “fraud on the Constitution”, never constituted a full Bench to examine the issues involved in the matter of legislation being arbitrarily declared by the Modi Govt. as a money bill under Art 110 of the Constitution just to avoid full debate. He had promised to do so after taking over as Chief Justice,” Ramesh said.

The Congress leader slammed the outgoing CJI over Prime Minister Narendra Modi government’s “damaging” amendments to the RTI and said his challenge to the amendments is still pending for hearing and verdict for over four years now.

“Second, my challenge of the Modi government’s damaging amendments to the RTI has been awaiting hearing and verdict for over four years now,” he said.