Dharamshala: With just a few days left for the bypoll, Dharamshala is back hitting headlines to be, or not to be, the second capital of Himachal Pradesh.
The poll time controversy, however, is not without politics.
As the ruling BJP remains completely non-committal, rather have been side-tracking the issue, the Congress is posing questions as what happened to the January 2017 decision, taken by the state cabinet granting the status of 'second capital' to Dharamshala under Virbhadra Singh. It's a different story that the Congress despite promising a second capital status to Dharamshala had lost the power. The announcement rather had stiff opposition within the party circles and the state.
Kaul Singh Thakur, a former cabinet minister recalls he had opposed the decision in the cabinet to declare Dharamshala as a second capital. "Because it was an election time then, even now, I will not be able to say much. But, Himachal doesn't need second capital. It will be a huge financial burden on the state, already facing a serious crisis."
While the Congress is trying to gain mileage from its 2017 decision, not much support has come from the local communities. "The second capital is not an issue in the poll," admits Kartar Chand, a local trader, who though voices concern on Dharamshala not being developed as "smart city"—a project cleared in 2015.
Ironically, former minister for Urban development Sudhir Sharma, who was MLA from Dharamshala, lost the 2017 polls due to strong disillusionment of the locals. He was the brain behind "smart city" project and also getting Dharamshala declared as a second capital.
Will the Congress call for make Dharamsala second capital will pay off now? That's big issues and poll results will certainly be an answer to this question on October 24 – when results are declared after October 21 polling. Former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, who joined the BJP campaign on Wednesday, reminded that the Congress had given Dharamshala, a second capital status only on a 'piece of paper.'
"You can't make capital by issuing a paper notification. It was rather previous BJP government which set-up a secretariat at Dharamshala as one cabinet minister was empowered to camp at the secretariat," Dhumal told the voters.
Dharamshala, which headquarters of state's largest district – Kangra having 15 assembly constituencies, happens to be the politically most significant district in the formation of any government at Shimla. The BJP traditionally draws power from Kangra. Party senior leader Shanta Kumar, a two-time Chief Minister is native of Kangra and has risen to highest ranks from the ground-zero Kangra.
Virbhadra Singh, a six-time Chief Minister, who hails from Shimla district, did much of the grounding in Kangra to ensure that the Congress gets rooted firmly but failed. His decisions to shift a large number of government offices, shift HP Board of School education at Dharamshala, establish state Vidhan Sabha complex to hold winter sessions, and CM's 15-day long "winter move', apart from setting-up central university, did not reward him politically. So what's all fuss about the capital.
Says Kaul Singh Thakur, "What we need an equitable development of the state. By declaring Dharamshala as second capital or having an assembly complex there, is a big burden on the state's finances. We really can't afford," he told Millennium Post.