NEW DELHI: Himachal Pradesh chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Friday addressed the recent controversy surrounding a CID probe over samosas and cakes intended for him, which were mistakenly served to his security staff. Clarifying the issue, Sukhu said, “There is no such thing… It (CID) got involved on the issue of misbehavior. but you (the media) are running news about ‘samosa'”
The incident around which the controversy is revolving took place on October 21, when refreshments meant for the chief minister during his visit to the CID headquarters were inadvertently served to his security detail. The mix-up soon escalated, with the CID later labelling the blunder as an “anti-government” act, claiming those involved acted with their own agenda. According to CID reports, the snacks were brought from Hotel Radisson Blue in Lakkar Bazaar and, after a series of miscommunications, ended up in the wrong hands.
The mix-up reportedly began when an Inspector General (IG)-level officer requested some refreshments, delegating the task to a sub-inspector (SI), who further assigned it to an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) and a head constable. The officers retrieved the sealed snack boxes and informed the SI, who was the only one aware they were intended for the chief minister. In a series of misunderstandings, however, the boxes were eventually redirected to the mechanical transport (MT) section, where they were mistakenly served to the security staff.
Meanwhile, the incident faced backlash from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari taking a jab at Sukhu and the Congress-led state government, linking the incident to Himachal Pradesh’s financial difficulties. Bhandari commented, “The situation in Himachal Pradesh is such that the chief minister does not have money to pay his own salary, there is no money to pay the Chief Secretary, there is no money to pay the MLAs. This shows that the financial condition of the state has become terrible due to Rahul Gandhi’s Khata-khat model and this is Rahul Gandhi’s guarantee model and his economic thinking has been exposed.”
Bhandari went on to cite Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s earlier warnings about the “Revdi culture” of distributing freebies without economic consideration, adding, “In Karnataka too, we have seen how the prices of day-to-day needs, be it milk or water, have been increased and Karnataka is also going through a financial crisis. Rahul Gandhi should apologise to the people of the country because all his promises have been proven fake today.”