Amid the Aam Admi Party's surge in the 'Dev Bhumi', Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur claimed that "the mountain is very high to climb," where the Assembly elections are due later this year in the state.
In an exclusive interview with the Millennium Post, Thakur said that the people of the state have always voted for either BJP or Congress. No third political party could survive in the state. At the same time, the Chief Minister admitted that retaining power in the state is the major 'challenge' for BJP this time and 'learnt a big lesson from the defeat in by-polls'- that took place in October 2021.
Your tenure as Chief Minister is going to be completed in a few more months, what is your plan for the last year in your office?
We have worked from the first day in the state where we especially focused on the social sector. "Jaha Gareeb, Waha Hum - we are always there for poor people." This is still the main target of our work operation. If you talk about any specific plan ahead of the election, I would say that the state government has come up with several schemes, and maximum of these schemes are targeted at the poor people and backward classes. Himachal Pradesh government has already spent Rs 1,300 crore as compared to 400 crores by the previous government for social welfare sector.
The age limit for old-age pension has also been reduced from 70 years to 60 years to cover a larger number of old persons in the state. Currently 6, 35,375 persons are availing of social security pension in the state. 20 lakh persons were covered under the Ayushman Bharat Yojna, whereas we are putting our efforts towards covering the remaining 32 lakh people in the state under Mukhyamantri Himcare Yojna. About 2.40 lakh people have availed free treatment so far.
We are also making efforts to attract private investment to boost industrialisation in the state. The Global Investors Summit at Dharamshala and two groundbreaking ceremonies have resulted in attracting an investment of 41,000 crore. Hence, I am certain that they will bless us and the schemes will work in our favour.
In the last by-polls, BJP lost all the three Assembly seats and the lone Lok Sabha seat in Himachal Pradesh. Was that a wake-up call for the party?
We learnt a lot from the verdict of the bypolls. We have got an opportunity to introspect and find our deficiencies. Now we have taken up actions to conceal nooks. I am optimistic and believe that in the coming Assembly polls, we will be benefitted out of what we learned and introspected. The party organisation and the state government have performed well on the ground. I am certain about BJP's win in Himachal.
How do you see Aam Admi Party's rise in Himachal Pradesh? Or do you consider Congress still your prime opposition?
The peak is very high. It takes a lot of energy to climb. Some also feel "breathlessness" (in satire mode). The cacophony has been silenced and blown with the wind when the party's state president defected to the BJP. There are a lot more in the coming times. There is no ideological stand for Aam Admi Party; they are only getting benefitted out of the ongoing political scenario. Or else, this will never be able to run for a long time. They had to dissolve the state unit amid a string of defections.
Further, it has been a political tradition of Himachal Pradesh that people either vote for Congress or the BJP. There is the 'two-party' formula. Therefore, I do not see any opportunity for AAP.
There is another important issue with the capital subsidy package for the state, which ended on March 31 and that might hit investment.
We have raised the issue with the Central government. Both Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand are suffering from this challenge, however, I believe that the capital subsidy package will be extended by the Union government.
Any special programme to build a landbank in the state, as more projects are in pipeline?
The state government has taken landbank issue on a prior basis and worked on it. If we want to bring private investment to Himachal, we would need land, electricity, water connection, and road connectivity. Hence, the state government has already allocated 5,000 acres of land across Baddi and Una area for industrialisation. Himachal government is fully ready to cooperate with the private players.
What is the main challenge, that you would face in the upcoming assembly elections?
I believe that every election is challenging. The main challenge is to retain the current position in the state, as historically, since 1985, no government could repeat the second time in Himachal. You have already seen the result for UP and Uttarakhand. In both states, BJP formed the government for the second time.