Chandigarh, April 3 (IANS) Development works have come to a halt in Himachal Pradesh due to Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, a Congress candidate alleged Friday.

‘Dhumal has hijacked the political system of the state and his government has failed in every quarter in the last one-and-a-half year. He is not listening to anybody and only promoting his own family members in the state politics,’ Narender Thakur, Congress candidate from Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh, told media persons here Friday.

‘Dhumal is only trying to project his son Anurag Thakur as the next chief minister of the state but in reality Thakur has proved a failure in politics as he could not understand the problems of the common man. I myself quit BJP with a heavy heart as Dhumal has ruined the original principles of the party,’ he added.

Anurag Thakur is the BJP candidate from Hamirpur.

‘Ten years back, Dhumal’s family had assets of only few thousands (rupees) but now they possess assets worth several crores and they have no satisfactory explanation for this. They are only busy in accumulating huge amounts from big businessmen of the state by favouring them in one way or the other,’ said Thakur.

The Congress Thursday named Narender Thakur as its Hamirpur candidate in place of former cricketer Madan Lal.

Thakur clarified: ‘The Congress had to change its decision after Madan Lal suddenly took ill. He is recuperating in a hospital.’

He added there were no differences in the party over the selection of the candidate from Hamirpur. ‘In fact, Madan Lal is happy with the decision and he called me today. He congratulated me and assured his full support in my election campaign,’ said Thakur.

About his prospects in elections, Thakur added: ‘Hamirpur is traditionally a BJP seat, but this time we are going to change history by winning this seat for UPA (United Progressive Alliance) with a record margin.’