Himachal Congress to hold agitation from Wednesday

The Congress will hold agitation against the "anti-people" policies of the Centre and the Himachal Pradesh government from Wednesday.

The agitations will be held at the state and district levels from November 6-14, state Congress president Kuldeep Singh Rathore told the media here on Monday.

State Congress in-charge Rajni Patil, co-incharge Gurkirat Singh Kotli and its observer Nana Patole would also participate in the state-level agitation, Rathore said.

Rathore alleged that demonetisation and the goods and services tax (GST) had adversely affected development, adding that unemployment was increasing day by day in the country as well as in the state.

According to the Congress leader, the unemployment rate of the country had been 3.4 per cent in 2014, whereas it is now 8.1 per cent. In rural areas, the unemployment rate among men is 18.7 per cent, whereas it is 27.2 per cent among women.

The state is on the third place as far as unemployment is concerned, Rathore said, adding that the GDP was now 5 per cent from the earlier rate of 7.4 per cent.

Rathore said no Congress MLA had so far got any invitation from Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur for participating in global investors' meet, scheduled to be held in Dharamshala on Thursday and Friday.

The chief minister, Rathore said, also did not talk to Congress legislative party (CLP) leader Mukesh Agnihotri in this regard.