Amitabh
Shukla / Shimla
As
Himachal Pradesh goes to polls on Thursday to elect its government for the next
five years, the battle is clearly between change offered by the BJP and status
quo offered by ruling Congress. Not surprisingly, change is the dominant
political theme this November in the hill state where both the two main parties
have shared power one after the other for the last over three decades.
Even
as anti incumbency against ruling Congress is visible on the ground, chief
minister Virbhadra Singh has not lost his popularity despite being repeatedly attacked
for corruption and promotion of dynastic politics. In the upper hills, there is still reverence
for royalty to some extent, particularly in the elderly men and women and also
because Singh has been one of the stalwarts of the state, being a six time
chief minister and being in politics since making his parliamentary debut in
1962.
Singh
says the party is fighting the polls on the government’s all round achievements
in all fields be it education, health, providing water and road network and
other indices of development. Singh readily cites statistics to bolster his
claims and how the state has developed in successive Congress regimes. He tells
his audience in his meetings how the BJP government is targeting him on small
matters of income tax with multiple agencies hounding him, how vindictive the
Centre is and how all his bank accounts have been sealed. “Is this the way of
governance?” he asks.
His
rival, Prem Kumar Dhumal enjoys similar popularity in the lower hills. Being a
two-time chief minister having mass connect and popular support, the
announcement of his name as the chief ministerial face of the party, triggered
enthusiasm amongst the BJP cadres and even the fence sitters. The announcement
by party chief Amit Shah, BJP cadres say, clinched the deal for the Lotus as it
was a last minute “master stroke”. “Had the BJP gone without a name, it would
have confused the cadres and supporters,” said a party veteran in Shimla.
“There
is a wave of change blowing in the entire state. Gone are the days of kings and
kingdoms. We are committed for a golden future of the state and have released a
vision document for this. There will be no corruption, no mafia raj and
effective administration for the betterment of all Himachalis,” said Dhumal. He
cited the achievements of the central government and pointed out how important
it was to have the same party government for faster and rapid development
throughout his whirlwind campaign.
For
BJP, it was the campaign strategy of carpet bombing the state with its top
leaders which seemed to have gone well, particularly the floating voters who
make a decision at the last moment. “Just see how much attention BJP is giving
to the state. They will give similar attention after coming to power,” said
Anil Bhardwaj, a young school teacher and a voter in Nadaun, near Hamirpur.
While
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed seven rallies in every part of the
state, Congress President Sonia Gandhi was completely absent from campaigning
apparently due to ill health. Party Vice President and heir apparent Rahul
Gandhi of course, addressed three rallies to make for the deficit but clearly
involvement of top leadership of Congress from the campaign was missing.
Congress sources in Rajiv Bhawan in Shimla admitted of “meager resources” and
lack of adequate interest from High Command.
Interestingly,
in the 2012 assembly polls, the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had not
addressed any political rally. This shows how important the elections are for
BJP. Party leaders point out that for Modi and BJP leadership, winning back the
hill state was a vital for the campaign of “Congress Mukt Bharat”. Several Union Ministers and chief ministers
of BJP ruled states spread in every nook and corner to spread the message of
the party across while most of the senior Congress leaders only addressed press
conferences in Shimla.
From
Congress, 83-year old Virbhadra Singh was the star campaigner and fought the
polls valiantly. Campaigning for up to 16 hours a day by helicopter and road,
Raja sahib as he is known in the state, left no stone unturned. He, however,
did not work and campaign seriously for a few candidates, chosen by the high
command and this posed serious question marks on the unity of party rank and
file.
Though
the results would be announced only on December 18, Himachal polls would be known
for the high decibel campaign of BJP and muted response of Congress and voter
indifference to making issues like demonetization and GST as poll campaign. Anti incumbency would be
the single biggest deciding factor in the polls.
PROMINENT
CONSTITUENCIES
1. Arki:
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh is contesting against new comer Rattan Singh Pal
after BJP denied ticket to two-time MLA Govind Ram Sharma. It is considered to
be a safe seat for the chief minister as he did not come here after filing his
nomination, except on the last day for some time. Besides several developmental
schemes in the last five years here, there is an emotional connect of the
voters too as the Raja Sahib has declared that this is his last elections and
people want to give him a decent farewell, at least as an MLA.
2. Sujanpur:
BJP chief ministerial face and two time chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal is
contesting against his former protégé Rajinder Rana from Congress. Rana, who won the seat in 2012 as an
Independent, has been a friend turned foe and knows the strengths of Dhumal in
specific areas and is countering them. But declaring the name of the 73 year
old as the chief ministerial candidate has swung the electorate towards
him.
3. Shimla Rural:
It’s a electoral politics debut for Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh’s son
Vikramaditya Singh who is pitted against Pramod Sharma of BJP. The chief
minister had vacated this seat for his son and had planned his succession for
the last few months giving several projects in the area. But the people wanted
more attention and better infrastructure from the state government.
4. Theog:
In the heart of the apple belt and a traditional seat of veteran Vidya Stokes,
there was a goof up and the Congress gave ticket to Deepak Rathore. BJP has fielded Rakesh Verma while the CPIM
too is giving a tough fight with the candidature of veteran communist leader
Rakesh Singha. Rathore did not getting any support from the chief minister,
practically leaving the contest between
the BJP and CPIM candidates.
5. Shimla city:
Interesting contest between powerful Congress rebel Harish Janartha and
official Congress candidate Harbhajan Singh Bhajji. Though, BJP’s Suresh
Bhardwaj is expected to sail through, it’s going to be a four cornered fight
with CPIM’s Sanjay Chauhan too having considerable influence amongst the hotel
workers who constitute a sizeable section.
6. Mandi:
With BJP fielding Congress defector Anil Sharma, son of scam tainted former
Union Minister Sukh Ram, the contest has interesting overtones. Sharma was the
Rural Development Minister in the outgoing Virbhadra Singh government and will
fight with Congress nominee Champa Thakur, daughter of State Health Minister
and senior leader Kaul Singh Thakur.
7. Nadaun:
State Congress chief Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu who was continuously at loggerheads
with the CM Virbhadra Singh is locked in
a battle with BJP’s Vijay Agnihotri. However, BJP rebel Lekh Raj Sharma has
queered the pitch for the party with his presence. Due to this contest, Sukhu
has been confined to the constituency rather than drawing strategy for the
party and campaigning in other parts of the state.
8. Una:
Bordering Punjab, state BJP chief Satpal Singh Satti is contesting from here
against Satpal Raizada of Congress. Both are fighting each other for the second
time in a row after 2012 assembly polls and this is expected to be a close
contest.
ISSUES
1. Law and Order:
Gudia gang rape which rocked the state just a few months before the
announcement of polls, triggered a major resentment against the government
which was forced to order a CBI enquiry. BJP accused the Virbhadra Singh
government of shielding the guilty while Congress countered that the case was
handed over to CBI which reports to the BJP ruled Centre. But the gang rape
suggested that all was not well in the hitherto the peaceful state. Murder of forest
guard Hishiyar Singh, allegedly by the forest mafia too shook the faith of the
people in the Congress government. This case too has been handed over to CBI
and Virbhadra Singh accused Congress of politicization of crime in his
election campaign.
2. GST and Demonetization:
It’s a major theme in the election with the Congress raising the bogey of
disruption of economy and BJP mocking at the Congress for being corrupt and
opposing transparency. However, the people at large are hardly affected and
both demonetization and GST have failed to get the traction of the electorate.
3. Import duty on foreign apples:
Congress has accused BJP of neglecting the interests of apple growers by not
increasing the import duty on foreign apples even though it had promised it in
the 2014 elections. “Horticulture and agriculture has been completely
neglected,” said former Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit while campaigning. On the other hand, BJP lists steps it has
taken in successive regimes to help the apple growers of the state and has
promised more.
4. Employment generation and
regularization of employees: Congress says that
there has been an unprecedented employment generation and regularization of
contract employees in the five-year
tenure of Virbhadra Singh and insist
that this is their USP in this election.
The BJP does not deny this but its chief ministerial face Prem Kumar
Dhumal says when they come to power, they will regularize 35,000 employees.
5. Monkey menace:
In several parts of the state, monkeys have devastated local economies,
particularly affecting the small farmers. Both BJP and Congress are accusing
each other of not doing enough and promising to control it. Monkeys have been
declared as vermin in the state but still dud to religious feelings, culling is
hardly an option. Now both parties are saying they will set up more
sterilization centres to check the monkey population
6. Expansion of Tourism:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set the ball rolling by saying that the state
is a top destination in the world but the potential has not been developed. He
has promised better road, rail and air network to exploit tourism potential
which would be facilitated by the same party government in both Centre and the
state. The promise has found traction in the state where a large number of
population depends on income from tourism. Congress government is on defensive
as they had overturned several tourism projects of the previous BJP government
(2007 to 2012) of Dhumal. (November 9,
2017)
