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- Himachal Assembly Elections 2022: Congress Targeted 80% Voters By 10 Guarantee Scheme, Responsibility Of Priyanka Gandhi
Shimla18 minutes ago
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In the battle of Himachal assembly elections 2022, Congress has come with 10 guarantees. The aim is to win the election at any cost, because the future of Congress rests on Himachal elections. The Lok Sabha elections of 2024 are to be held immediately after the assembly elections in 9 states in 2023. In such a situation, the Congress will have to win Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat as well as the electoral states of 2023, or else it will have to face challenges in leading the opposition, far away UPA, in the 2024 elections.
Priyanka Gandhi’s target ‘Himachal ka Takht’
Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself has taken over the responsibility of BJP’s mission repeat in Himachal. Here, Congress National General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi has also tried to give a befitting reply to PM’s rallies. According to the political pundits, the Congress tried to reach more than 80 percent of the voters of Himachal by giving 10 guarantees. Congress has covered every section of the society, from youth to women, from employees to farmers-gardeners, villagers-farmers and school children.
Let us now understand how the different 10 guarantees of the Congress can affect how many voters?
- Congress has given the first guarantee OPS i.e. Old Pension Scheme restoration. About 1.40 lakh employees recruited after 2002 in the state are now under NPS i.e. New Pension Scheme. There is tremendous anger among NPS employees due to non-recovery of OPS. It is clear that Congress has tried to influence more than three lakh voters of NPS employees and their families by promising OPS.
- Out of total 55,07,261 voters in Himachal, 27,27,016 are women. That is, more than 49 percent of the voters are female. The Congress has guaranteed an allowance of Rs 1,500 per month to women in the age group of 18 to 60 years. Congress has given this guarantee to cater to about 21.50 lakh women voters.
- In Himachal, Congress has given the third major guarantee of free electricity up to 300 units. Altogether there are about 23 lakh electricity consumers in the state. About 12 lakh electricity consumers will be benefited by getting 300 units of free electricity. That is, the electricity bills of people consuming 300 units or less electricity will be zero.
- Unemployment has become the most serious problem in Himachal today. According to the data of the Center for Monitoring Economy (CMIE), the unemployment rate at the national level in September is 7.7%, while in Himachal is higher than the national average of 9.2 percent. At the same time, in the last five years, the present government has failed to provide employment as per the claims. Most have been given outsourced employment. Only a small number of people have been able to get regular jobs. This is the reason that about 8.50 lakh youth are registered unemployed in the employment offices of the state. However, during the election season, the government has definitely given approval to fill up a large number of posts. Sensing this, Congress has promised employment to 5 lakh youth. About 16 lakh voters (29%) are in the age group of 18 to 29 out of 55,07,261 voters in the state.
- The Congress claimed in its 5th guarantee that the gardeners would be given the right to fix the rates of their produce. There are more than 3.15 lakh gardener families in the state, who are growing 36 varieties of fruits in the state. The state alone produces apples worth 5000 crores. The livelihood of more than two lakh families depends on apples. The apple orchards in the state were on the roads for two months but the government did not listen to them. In such a situation, if the voters of the families of the gardeners are merged, then this guarantee can affect five to six lakh voters.
- Congress has promised to keep a start up fund of 680 crores for the youth in its sixth guarantee. It was claimed that interest free loan would be given to youth to start self-employment from this fund. This may affect a large number of young voters.
- More than 80 percent of the state’s population lives in villages. Congress has given a guarantee to provide free treatment facility in every village through mobile clinic. Obviously, this guarantee can also affect one to 1.5 lakh voters of those rural areas, whose areas do not yet have health facilities.
- Congress has promised to open 4 English medium schools in each assembly constituency. This guarantee is given to the voters of those families who want to send their children to English school but are unable to teach due to lack of facilities in rural areas.
- Congress has given 9th guarantee to buy 10 liters of milk every day from cow and buffalo farmers. In rural areas, 95 percent of the households are cow-buffalo farmers. In many rural areas, milk is not sold due to lack of demand. In such a situation, Congress has claimed that if their government is formed, 10 liters of milk will be purchased daily from each animal husband. This promise can also affect more than one lakh voters in rural areas who do not get a market to sell milk.
- Congress has given the last and 10th guarantee to buy cow dung at the rate of Rs 2 a kg. However, most of the farmers in Himachal fulfill their demand by buying cow dung. Still some farmers who have surplus cow dung can get some benefit from this promise of Congress.
Congress has given guarantee, now this challenge
Now it is a challenge for the Congress to take these guarantees to the public, because the BJP has started telling these guarantees to be false. If we look at the guarantees of the Congress, it is a matter of giving relief to the general public. Every section of the society is troubled by inflation and unemployment. Congress has focused on this, but due to fragmentation and factionalism in the organization, the mission does not seem to be accomplished. The leadership of the party in the state is divided into two factions. Even if the election is won, the mutual split will initially put it on the verge of distrust.
That’s why ruling BJP is making PM a face
Congress leaders are thoughtfully talking about giving guarantees. After the announcement of these guarantees, the BJP is also compelled to think. This is the reason why BJP has become dependent on PM Modi instead of counting the achievements of its 5 years and efforts have been made so far to make PM the face in Himachal, but the public understands this very well, this election is not of Lok Sabha, but of Vidhan Sabha. Is. Modi did not run the Himachal government.
BJP silent on unemployment and inflation
BJP is silent on unemployment and inflation in the state. None of their leaders is ready to answer on this issue. Horticulture is also a big issue. Even on this the silence of the BJP did not break. PM Modi also did not say anything on inflation and unemployment during his three visits. Taking advantage of this, Congress has given its 10 guarantees on all these to the public.
Virbhadra Singh is sorely missed
Congress made a big change in the organization in April 2022 this year by making Pratibha Singh, wife of former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and Lok Sabha MP from Mandi, as the President of the State Congress Committee. Appointed senior leader Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu as the chairman of the election campaign committee. In the small state of Himachal Pradesh, the Congress had appointed working presidents like Punjab and Uttarakhand, but factionalism did not get rid of it.
Party leadership is struggling with factionalism
Congress has been in power in Himachal Pradesh for a long time, but it is troubled by factionalism in the party leadership in the state itself. Kuldeep Singh Rathod, MP Pratibha Singh, senior leaders Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, Asha Kumari, Ramlal Thakur and Mukesh Agnihotri have their own factions.
Congress needs a popular face
In the Himachal by-elections held last year, the Congress defeated the ruling BJP 4-0. Due to this, the spirits of Congress leaders and workers are high, but due to the crushing defeat in 5 states, the morale of the Congressmen has dropped. In such a situation, the Congress needs such a popular face, who can take all the leaders along and can also garner public support.
Many veteran leaders have left the party
Many veterans like Pawan Kajal, Ashray Sharma, Lakhwinder Singh Rana, Harsh Mahajan have already left the Congress before the elections. Apart from these, many leaders, who are popular among the public, but are not coming out openly in the election time. There is neither cooperation in publicity nor doing public dialogue. At present, Priyanka Gandhi is completely handling the election campaign.
Virbhadra got power many times on his own
Virbhadra Singh was such a face in the politics of Himachal, who gave power to the Congress many times on his own. As soon as the election was announced, Virbhadra Singh’s tour started in all the assembly circles. His influence was so great that even the shortcomings of the party were hidden in front of his stature. Its hallmark was clearly visible in the by-election of Mandi parliamentary constituency last year.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, BJP won this seat by a margin of over 4 lakh votes. Virbhadra Singh’s wife Pratibha Singh was elected MP from here in the by-election last year. In the home district of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, the ruling BJP had to face the loss, but this face is sorely missed.