It promises to be the most exciting electoral battle in the hills in recent times. With multiple rallies by PM Narendra Modi, the BJP has hit the ground running. Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP started off strong but has of late diverted much of its focus to Gujarat. The Congress campaign rests on the shoulders of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra but is yet to pick up pace. News18 tours the state to gauge public sentiment and political strategies ahead of Himachal Pradesh elections 2022.
With the Congress taking issues like government jobs, pension schemes and inflation to the voters in Himachal Pradesh, the ruling BJP has chalked up a plan to blunt the opposition campaign.
With various teams working on social media and communication strategy, top most ministers in the Jairam Thakur government and senior state BJP leaders have started reaching out to voters, especially government employees, to expose the “fake promises” being made by the Congress.
“If the central government cannot do it, no one in the country will be able to implement the old pension scheme. So if it has to be implemented, only the party that has the government at the Centre can do it. I do not think the Congress can form the government at the Centre ever now,” said Suresh Bhardwaj, Law Minister in the state government.
Fearing, however, that the Congress narrative on the issues may impact a certain percentage of voters, the BJP questioning the feasibility of promises made by Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in her first election rally in Solan.
Responding to Priyanka Gandhi’s promise of giving government jobs if the Congress is voted to power in the state, Bhardwaj said: “She has not seen the functioning of a government. Hers may be a rajparivar running a rajwada-shahi in the name of democracy, but she has little knowledge of how governments work.”
“Posts are created in a government on the basis of work and budget. Promising that they would give government jobs in the first meeting shows that they are not serious about forming the government or they know they are not winning. They just want to just make false promises. Those who want to form the government will look at everything, from state resources to the wellbeing of various sections of the society,” he added.
Suresh Kashyap, Himachal Pradesh BJP chief, said the state votes after due deliberations. “The Congress had kept 80 years as the age for pensions. Half the senior citizens died before that. The BJP brought it down to 60 years.”
Rajiv Bindal, chairman of BJP’s election management committee, said that if the Congress is promising the old pension scheme in Himachal Pradesh, why did it not implement the same in states where it is in power.
Bhardwaj agreed with his party colleague. “The Congress has Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel as its chief campaigner in Himachal Pradesh. He has announced the old pension scheme in his state, but has he been able to implement it? Ashok Gehlot was in the running for the Congress president post and he is Chief Minister of Rajasthan. Has he implemented the scheme there?”
“How can they implement the old pension scheme in a state that is already in debt? Making announcements is a different thing, fulfilling promises is another. We are only making those promises that we can fulfil. Congress’ Virbhadra Singh said he would give one government job to each household. Was he able to do that? Indira Gandhi gave the slogan of garibi hatao. Has poverty ended? Priyanka Gandhi should explain why the Chhattisgarh government is not implementing the old pension scheme,” Bhardwaj added.
The BJP, meanwhile, is also planning to take the central and state initiatives to government employees who form a significant chunk of the state electorate.
“The state government has implemented the Punjab pay scale and resolved issues of teachers irrespective of which government recruited them. SMC teachers were left in a lurch and we did whatever we could for them. We gave UGC scales to teachers before anyone else,” said a senior BJP leader.
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