OPS: Punjab govt decides to power AAP campaign in Himachal Pradesh
shimla: First it was Rajasthan and then Chattisgarh, both Congress ruled states, that announced to implement the Old Pension Scheme (OPS). Later, the Jharkhand government also followed suit.
On Friday, the Punjab government also approved the restoration of the OPS for the employees of the state government. With state assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh slated on November 12, the jittery Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has thus chosen to play a new card in the hill state to checkmate the Congress and BJP.
While the BJP has not opened its cards on OPS and is looking up to the central government to take a call on it, the Congress, which considers itself a natural successor to the power in Himachal Pradesh, has declared to implement OPS.
"A decision on the OPS will be taken in the first Cabinet meeting of the new government," Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel announced at Solan – Parivartan Pratigya Rally, which Priyanka Gandhi Vadra addressed on October 14.
He also made it clear that the BJP is creating confusion as to how the government will fund the OPS but the Congress governments in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh have already clarified the position.
There will not be a problem in granting OPS benefits to the employees.
The AAP, ever since its victory in Punjab has been eyeing Himachal Pradesh to become a new alternative before the people which has seen the Congress and BJP reversing their roles to rule the state after every five years.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab CM Bhagwant who held a series of rallies in the state before announcement of the polls have been promising sops to the youths, farmers and government employees apart from electricity to the consumers.
Knowing that the government employees in Himachal Pradesh are the biggest lobby to change any regime, they have come out with a decision to power its poll campaign.
Punjab Education minister Harjot Singh Bains has already been made incharge of the elections and thus the decision of the AAP government is well timed ahead of the poll campaign.
" The AAP has announced its candidates for all 68 assembly seats. Our leaders are set to arrive in Himachal Pradesh within next few days to kickstart the campaign," he says.
Insiders say the AAP may have shifted its entire focus on Gujarat but have not left hopes in Himachal Pradesh to register its presence in the state assembly and then explore chances in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls or later next assembly elections, after five years.
