Himachal Pradesh election is BJP-Cong battle, accept challenge: CM to HT

Thakur said two days are left for the withdrawal of nominations and he hopes they will be able to convince some of the rebels to withdraw

Updated on: Oct 27, 2022, 15:16:37 IST

By Chetan Chauhan

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Ahead of the assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh, chief minister Jairam Thakur spoke to HT in his home district of Mandi on ticket distribution, Congress as the principal challenger, etc. Edited excerpts:

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is facing rebellion in as many as 22 of 68 assembly constituencies. How are you trying to quell it?

The party has become bigger and the aspirations of our leaders have also become big. Many leaders demanded tickets but now we have to follow what the party has decided. We are in touch with rebel candidates and trying to convince them. Two days are left for the withdrawal of nominations and I hope we will be able to convince some of them. We are getting some success. Let us wait and watch.

What will be the impact of rebellion and what action will be taken if rebels do not withdraw?

Rebels are in both Congress and BJP, though the problem with us may appear bigger. We will take disciplinary action against those who do not withdraw.

How big is the restoration of the old pension scheme an electoral issue?

Employees in Himachal are in large numbers and play a significant role in politics and development. We did a lot for them and they acknowledge that. Virbhadra Singh’s Congress government stopped the scheme in 2003. He could have refused like West Bengal. Himachal was the first state to implement the new pension scheme. This raises a question mark over Congress’s intention and wisdom. Virbhadra Singh came back to power in 2012 and never restored the scheme. Now after 20 years, Congress is using it for political reasons, which is not correct.

The old scheme cannot be implemented without the Centre’s financial help. It is not possible even for Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. I saw chief ministers of these two states urging Prime Minister for financial help to implement the old pension scheme saying it cannot be implemented without the Centre’s help. Issuing a notification and giving pension are two different issues. If any solution to the pension issue is found, it would be by the BJP. Congress will not come back to power for decades.

How big are inflation and unemployment issues?

These are global issues and have been there in all elections. These are issues but people understand that they are not a creation of the present government. Congress is raising them and may have some impact. We are telling people about the development BJP has done and the response is good.

Is development an electoral issue?

Our development work is clearly visible. We have shown that our work is much more than all previous Congress governments. We have built 5,000 km of roads compared to the average of 2,500 km in the same periods earlier, which is a record. In 75 years, only 750000 homes were provided with drinking water. We provided water to 850000 homes in three years. Despite that development sometimes is not a big election issue.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has contributed a lot and has given medical colleges, the All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences, and the Atal Tunnel to the state. Several big projects came to Himachal because of him.

There is a perception that Congress is trying to garner sympathy votes in the name of the late Virbhadra Singh...

As of today, this clearly shows Congress does not have state leaders. There are only regional leaders and that is why no one is being projected. This really saddens me. This shows Congress’s failure as they do not have leadership after him [Virbhadra Singh]. We have a long list of leaders. In Himachal, people have a real emotional connection with the Prime Minister, who considers the state his second home.

The contest is between the BJP and Congress. We accept the Congress challenge and are confident of your win

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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