BJP's Shanta Kumar dismissed the AAP challenge, saying, "AAP is out of the contest here. This is a direct fight between the Congress and the BJP."
Taking on the Congress, he said, "People have seen how corrupt the Central government has been in the last 10 years. So, there is an undercurrent of change across the country and Himachal is no different than the rest of India in sensing this."
Countering the allegations by his BJP rival, Chander Kumar said, "The Congress has denied tickets to leaders who were found to be guilty in corruption cases. Our party has kept out even leaders like Kalmadi who faced such charges but look at the BJP, they have given tickets to tainted politicians like Yeddyurappa and then they talk about corruption and scams."
Seeking to turn attention to development, he said, "Our major focus will be to convert the Pathankot-Mandi rail line into a broad gauge one and extend it to Leh.
"Secondly, we want to develop tourism infrastructure in the Kangra-Chamba region. We would also work to reduce the distance between the two areas by constructing tunnels."
