Shimla, Apr 11 (PTI) The BJP MP from Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi Lok Sabha seat, Kangana Ranaut, speaks like an actor and she should not be taken seriously, said state Industry Minister Harshwardhan Chauhan on Friday.

Replying to a question that Kangana had recently said she received electricity bills of Rs 1 lakh for her Manali house and the industry is also bearing the heat of electricity bills, he said, “When you will not pay the bill, it will be carried forward and will mount.” He told reporters, “She is trying to create a sensation on social media and in newspapers. It is her old habit but now she is a politician and should take things seriously.” Kangana has been entrusted with the responsibility to represent the Mandi parliamentary constituency and she should come up to the expectations of the people and resolve their issues rather than making unnecessary statements, he added.

“She speaks dialogues and we should not take her seriously. Even the people should not take her seriously,” he said.

The people of Himachal are smart, educated and politically aware, and they know that attempts were made by the BJP through Operation Lotus to oust the Congress government but it was foiled by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, he said.

Kangana had criticised the Congress government recently during a public meeting in her constituency over the “inflated electricity bills”. “I received an electricity bill of Rs 1 lakh for one month for my house in Manali. I don’t even live there. It is such a miserable condition,” she had said.

However, the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Limited (HPSEB) clarified that actor-politician Kangana Ranaut had not paid bills for two months, including old dues amounting to Rs 90,384. The connected load of her house is 94.82 KW, which is 1,500 per cent more than the average electric load for a normal house, it added.

Taking a dig at Kangana, state Public Works Minister Vikramaditya Singh on Thursday wrote on his Facebook account: “Mohtarma badi shararat karti hai, bijli ka bill nahin bharti hai, phir manch par sarkar ko kosti hai, aisa kaisa chalega” (Madam plays mischief, she does not pay electricity bills, then curses government from public platform. How will this work?” Addressing a gathering at Sarkaghat in Mandi on Thursday, Kangana had again said the electricity bill which was earlier Rs 5,000 shot up to Rs 80,000, and questioned if she was running a factory in her house.

In a related development, Youth Congress activists carried out a protest rally on Friday and shouted anti-Kangana slogans in Mandi. PTI BPL KSS KSS