Shimla, April 17 (Reporter) Senior BJP leader Jai Ram Thakur on Wednesday took on the Congress saying its leaders had made sincere efforts to get SS Sukhu to step down as Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister after the late February Rajya Sabha election. Talking to reporters here, Thakur said after the results of the Rajya Sabha elections, where the BJP won following cross-voting by some Congress legislators, the government has no moral right to continue. Thakur said that there are different factions in the state Congress, which made sincere efforts to get the Chief Minister to resign. “Today, many leaders in the Congress want a change of leadership, but this was not possible due to the Lok Sabha elections. Still, the leaders sitting to the right and left of the Chief Minister have been encouraged to wait till the Lok Sabha election results,” he said. Thakur said the cross-voting during the RS polls was “a clear failure of the government”. “When the CM did not give proper place to the public representatives and the Chief Minister's friends were running the government with cabinet status, then this was bound to happen,” he said. Responding to the issues flagged by the Congress leaders at a press conference on Tuesday, Thakur mentioned the poll survey released yesterday which claimed BJP is close to the target of winning 400 plus Lok Sabha seats and could win all four seats in Himachal. On the state government’s Mahila Samman Nidhi scheme, Thakur questioned who got it and when. “Even before the Assembly elections, Congress leaders made people fill up many forms, and the same thing is being done now in an attempt to cheat the women”. Thakur said there was no mention of this scheme in the state budget. “When the Chief Minister came under pressure, he announced it in a 5-minute press conference.” Thakur said the BJP has no objection to the scheme. “It has been 15 months since the Congress government came to power but no one had tied the hands of Congress to implement this scheme.” Thakur described as a violation of the election code of conduct the Chief Minister’s announcement that under the scheme Rs 3000 will be deposited in the accounts of women for the two months of April and May 2024. Thakur said his party has never opposed any attempt to revive the Old Pension Scheme for government employees. ”The Congress party is only trying to create an atmosphere of panic among the employees. There is a BJP government in Rajasthan also but this scheme was not stopped there. BJP does not work with the spirit of revenge," he said. Thakur demanded an account of the money received from the Central government during last year’s natural disaster and accused the state of selectively distributing the money among the Congress leaders...////...