Former Chief Parliamentary Secretary Babu Ram Mandial formally joined the Himachal Lokhit Party (HLP) along with hundreds of his supporters at a function organised at Gagal in the Nadaun Assembly constituency in the presence of state convener of the HLP Maheshwar Singh.

Babu Ram Mandial, who has been active in politics for over five decades, has had a stint both in the Congress and the BJP and was elected twice from the Nadaun Assembly constituency, once on the BJP ticket and once on the Congress ticket. He also remained chairman of Kangra Central Cooperative Bank. Mandial was suspended from the BJP a few months ago.

At the function Babu Ram Mandial blamed UPA-led Central Government and the state BJP government for allegedly following “anti-people policies” and for failing on all fronts. He criticised the BJP Govt for allegedly patronising corrupt leaders and said corruption was at its peak and the state government was not addressing the basic problems of the people.