LS poll scene all set in Himachal Pradesh, Anurag Thakur kicks off election campaign
Shimla: With the ruling Congress still struggling its way to political stability and uncertainty looming large over the government, the Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP) has already gone into an election mode, ahead of the Election Commission of India (ECI) announcing the schedule for the 2024 Lok Sabha poll.
Yet the party says it has managed to thwart the BJP’s bid to power by toppling its government. “The party and the government are on course correction,” says a senior Congress minister.
Six Congress MLAs disqualified by the Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania have not returned to their homes after February 27—the day when they cross-voted for the BJP. The MLAs have challenged the Speaker’s order in the Supreme Court and the case is listed for Monday.
Whatever could be the outcome of the stalemate on their membership of the state Assembly, it’s the BJP which finds the conditions absolutely favouring the party for the Lok Sabha poll and also keeping the Congress government under attack for failure to fulfill election promises and provide a stable government in the state.
Former Chief Minister Jairam Thakur says the Congress government has lost the majority in the House and it could collapse any moment. “Even God can’t save the government” he says, denying chances of operation “lotus” in Himachal Pradesh.
“The government is going to fall on its own very soon. Why should we take the blame unnecessarily ” he says.
Nevertheless, the Chief Minister, currently touring the districts to launch new schemes and development projects, says, “The BJP could not form its government through votes in 2022 now trying to get power through notes (cash). The Congress rebel MLAs have betrayed the people of their constituencies who will punish them for this treachery,” he said at Palampur.
In order to keep the flock together, Sukhu has doled out several government positions with cabinet ranks to Congress MLAs including three former loyalists of Ex-Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.
During the past one week, he had launched the government’s flagship scheme --- ‘Indira Gandhi Pyari Behna Sukh Samman Nidhi Yojana’ to honour the poll promise of giving Rs 1,500 per month to women in the age bracket of 18 to 59 years.
A sum of Rs 800 crore would be spent on the initiative, benefitting more than five lakh women annually. All major projects of the MLAs earlier held up in the CM’s office have been cleared and recommendations of the MLAs and ministers on transfers of employees also quickly honoured, unlike earlier days.
The cabinet has given the go-ahead to state recruitment Broad to declare the results of controversial Junior Office Assistant (Information Technology) posts earlier held up due to a vigilance probe into paper leak scam. This was a major demand of hundreds of unemployed youths who had appeared in the exams for the selection process to government jobs.
Yet, on the political fronts, the congress which had won 40 seats in the 2022 state Assembly polls is on a weak footing. There is no preparedness for the polls and the workers, disillusioned with the government, are clueless about the poll strategy.
