New leadership has emerged in Himachal Congress after Virbhadra’s death: Sukhu

Congress leader Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu said there was no legacy leadership in Himachal Pradesh after the death of Virbhadra Singh and a new leadership has replaced legacy leadership

Published on: Nov 9, 2022, 16:58:16 IST

By Chetan Chauhan

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Himachal Congress campaign committee chairperson and party candidate from Nadaun in Hamirpur district, Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, said there is no infighting in the Congress and described “inefficiency” of chief minister Jairam Thakur, as the biggest election issue. In an interview, he said a new leadership has emerged in the Himachal Congress after party veteran Virbhadra Singh’s death in July 2021. Edited excerpts:

Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu claimed that Himachal Pradesh chief minister Jairam Thakur hadn’t delivered on a single promise made by the BJP (File Photo)

What is the biggest election issue?

The biggest election issue is the failure of chief minister Jairam Thakur on all fronts and his failure to implement the BJP manifesto for 2017 elections. He failed to implement even a single promise. The BJP promised clean and efficient government and Jairam gave most the inefficient and corrupt government in the state. High inflation, unemployment and inefficiency of the government are main electoral issues.

Why do you think Congress will win this election?

There are two reasons for it. People in Himachal are ideologically with the Congress and second is that they have faith in the new leadership of the party. A new leadership has emerged in the Himachal Congress and people are showing full faith in them.

What do you mean by new leadership?

After the death of Virbhadra Singh, new leadership has emerged. There is no legacy leadership. A new leadership has replaced legacy leadership.

Who are the new leaders?

Mukesh Agnihotri (leader of opposition in the outgoing Himachal assembly) and I.

There are so many CM candidates in the Congress.

What is wrong in every candidate having a CM aspiration? We have 68 CM candidates and anyone of them can become the CM. After Virbhadra’s death, there are no groups in the Himachal Congress. All of us are together to win the polls.

There is said to be leadership vacuum in Himachal Congress?

People will decide who would be leader of Congress in Himachal. In BJP, it is post of prime minister and home minister, which decides who the leader is. In Congress, people decide the leader and after elections, you would come to know who the leader is. I am addressing rallies in different parts of the state and people are welcoming me.

What are your promises to people?

After coming to power, we will bring a transparency law for all public representatives and bureaucrats to declare their assets, liabilities and source of income for buying properties. I want transparency in public life. We will also address issues of all sections of the society and give employment to five lakh youth. We will implement the 10 guarantees of the Congress fully. One of our first decisions will be to implement the old pension scheme.

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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