10 reasons why Congress grabbed power in Himachal Pradesh

The ruling BJP lost Himachal Pradesh today while retaining power with thumping victory in Gujarat.

Congress emerged victorious in the Himachal Assembly Elections claiming 40 out of 68 seats. The BJP which was in power in the state landed with 25 seats while three seats went to Independent candidates as per the Election Commission of India data.

Here are 10 reasons why Congress grabbed power again in Himachal Pradesh:

-The issue of price rise in general, coupled with the Congress' promises of restoring the old pension scheme and providing Rs 1500 to every woman perhaps may have drawn the voters to the grand old party in Himachal Pradesh.

-The state followed its tradition of changing the incumbent government by voting out the BJP from power. The citizens of the hill state rejected BJP's much-hyped slogan of 'Raj nahin, riwaaj badlenge' (changing tradition, not the government).

-Now, on the campaign front, the BJP had launched an all-out and aggressive personalised campaign led by the PM himself focussing on national issues but then the voters were obviously focussed on the local issues and hence the result. The infighting between BJP has been also pointed out as the reason behind BJP's crashing defeat in the Himachal Assembly Elections.

-Instead of the incumbent chief minister Virbhadra Singh; who passed away in July 2021, the electorate preferred to have a new face from the Congress, where Singh had dominated the party's politics for four decades. Singh's wife Pratibha Singh is the PCC chief who steered the party to victory this time while riding on Virbhadra's legacy. As per a senior Congress leader, a united leadership and people's support at the grassroots level helped Congress stop the BJP.

-BJP's Anurag Thakur is being held responsible for loss of majority seats in his constituency because of the infighting between BJP leaders. Himachal, which is also the home state to BJP's national president JP Nadda, witnessed rebel BJP leaders in at least 21 out of the 68 constituencies.

The last-minute effort by the saffron party also turned futile. BJP had promised to declare the Hatti community in the Scheduled Tribes category and this too did not seem to work in the state as the BJP failed to sweep all five seats in the Sirmour district. BJP could bag only the two seats of Pachchad and Paonta Sahib. The Congress won the seats of Shillai, Nahan and Sri Renuka ji, where Hattis are a dominant community.

-Congress also had a religious pitch in its poll manifesto while seeking to lure the voters of Himachal Pradesh, which is also referred to as 'dev bhumi' (the land of gods). It rolled out ambitious promises ranging from a free once-in-four-year pilgrimage for all elderly to a dedicated budget for the promotion of religious tourism in every assembly constituency, as the manifesto included a stand-alone segment titled - "Devsthan and Tirth Yatras" (Temples and Pilgrimages). A "Dev Bhumi Vikas Nidhi", a fund that entails dedicating budgeting for each assembly constituency to promote religious tourism, has also been promised.

-Congress also sought to woo the poor by promising 300 units of free power to all households and five lakh jobs to the youth besides setting up a Rs 680-crore StartUp fund that would include Rs 10 crore fund for each of the 68 assembly constituencies to provide self-employment opportunities to youth.

-Congress's 52-page 'Pratigya Patra - Himachal, Himachaliyat aur Hum' also promised a special budget to MLAs to promote religious tourism, one job per family to those affected by power projects and urban MGNREGA jobs to the unemployed. The party also promised to register FIRs against illegal miners and set up a panel to fix prices of agriculture and horticulture produce.

-The grand old party had said that the government will buy 10 litres of milk daily from farmers and cow dung at Rs 2 per kilogram, and has promised to set up a Devbhumi Vikas Nidhi, if elected to power.

-Besides these, Congress also promised to provide loans at nominal rates to taxi drivers and increase the period of their permit from 10 years to 15 years. Pension for journalists, a reduction in fees for gun licences and bringing down the state's debt burden were among other promises made by Congress.

(with inputs from PTI)