Will Himachal Pradesh vote out incumbent, or break tradition?
New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is banking on central government schemes and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity to retain power in poll-bound Himachal Pradesh, and the Congress is hoping a slew of promises and the state’s tradition of voting out the incumbent will help it gain control of the hill state, while the Aam Aadmi Party is banking on projecting its work in Delhi and Punjab to make inroads into what has traditionally been a bipolar contest
New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is banking on central government schemes and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity to retain power in poll-bound Himachal Pradesh, and the Congress is hoping a slew of promises and the state’s tradition of voting out the incumbent will help it gain control of the hill state, while the Aam Aadmi Party is banking on projecting its work in Delhi and Punjab to make inroads into what has traditionally been a bipolar contest.
Elections to the 68-seat assembly will be held on November 12 and votes will be counted on December 8. Over the last 42 years, the two national parties have alternated in power in the state.
In 2017, Himachal Pradesh elected the BIP with 44 of the 68 seats and 48.79% of the vote share. In 2012, the Congress won 36 seats under the leadership of Virbhadra Singh, a four-time chief minister who died in 2021. This time, the BJP will aim to break the state’s tradition of swinging from one national party to the other, bolstered by its record of successfully broken such trends in neighbouring Uttarakhand and becoming the first party in a generation to return to power in Uttar Pradesh earlier this year. But a third entrant, the AAP, is looking to open its account in the state.
“I am confident that after the Congress and the BJP looted the state during their respective regimes, people of Himachal Pradesh will choose AAP in this election after looking at the Kejriwal government’s performance,” AAP leader Durgesh Pathak, a member of the party’s political affairs committee said.
Senior BJP leaders said they are confident of retaining power owing to the implementation of schemes such as gas connections, water supply, improved road connectivity and financial packages announced to support various development projects for the state. The party is also banking on CM Jairam Thakur’s clean image to give the party an edge.
“While on the one hand there is the double-engine model of the BJP, which talks about development and progress; on the other hand, is the Congress party, which is a divided house and leaderless. The people in the state have realized that it will only be the BJP that can usher in change,” the functionary said.
For the Congress, winning Himachal Pradesh might prove to be an uphill challenge due to rampant factionalism. The party’s campaign committee chairman Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, state unit chief Pratibha Singh (wife of late Virbhadra Singh) and legislative party leader Mukesh Agnihotri are all vying to be seen as aspirants for the CM’s chair. “The party has asked the three leaders to do joint rallies as much as possible to convey an impression of being united,” said a senior Congress leader, requesting anonymity.
On Friday, party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra campaigned in Solan and spoke about her home in Himachal. “When I built a house here, in Mashobra near Shimla, it was because Indira ji had a small personal wish, it was her dream, she told us many times that when I retire, I want to build a house in Mashobra but she was martyred before retiring.”
On Saturday, Union home minister Amit Shah will be in Himachal Pradesh and release a theme song sung by Udit Narayan that refers to the development model of the party.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a slew of projects worth over 6,000 crores in Himachal Pradesh, in the run up to the election. BJP president JP Nadda, who has roots in Himachal Pradesh, has already campaigned for “Mission Repeat”. Over the past one week, he has attended several public meetings in Mandi and Solan, and urged party cadre to carry out outreach programmes to encourage voters to participate in the polling process.
The party is assertive that it faces no challenge from the AAP. “The party made tall claims in Uttarakhand also, but we saw the results. In HP the contest is between the BJP and the Congress and there are no takers for their (AAP’s) revdi (freebie) politics,” the functionary quoted above said.
The Congress is orienting its campaign around freebies. Pratibha Singh has already announced free electricity of 300 units, mobile clinics for free treatment, 500,000 government jobs and a ₹680 crore package for start-up companies in a bid to woo young voters.
“Half of our preparations are already done and further preparations are on. Priyanka Gandhi has had a tremendous rally in Solan and she will campaign all over Himachal Pradesh. We hope to get a two-thirds majority,” said Congress in-charge of Himachal, Rajeev Shukla.
