With speculations on leadership change in Himachal Pradesh having been put to rest, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Friday hinted at the restructuring of the state cabinet and party’s organisational set-up ahead of assembly elections in 2022.
The Chief Minister’s reply came in response to a question by Outlook about his top priorities this upcoming election year and the road map Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave him during his Mandi visit on December 27.
“One thing is clearly established. A sense of demoralisation that had crept in the party cadres following our debacle in four recent bypolls has ended. Secondly, the Prime Minister's visit and what he said about the government has also ended speculations about impending changes in the state vis-à-vis leadership” the Chief Minister said.
Now that the BJP has to gear up for the elections, some changes in the party set-up and government are certainly required to improve the functioning and mass outreach of the party. The BJP is trying to break the "myth" that the government in Himachal Pradesh changes every five years, alternating between the BJP and Congress, by retaining power this year.
Thakur said his focus during next year will be to work unitedly and in close coordination with the party and complete some of the unfinished tasks, which got delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic or lack of funding.
“There can’t be any complacency in the government or party. In fact, the bypoll debacle was a warning signal for the cadres and leaders and also a lesson. We have to work hard, aggressively and remain focussed on "Mission Repeat" to showcase our best performance”, Thakur told Outlook.
But how much advantage does he see for himself in the absence of veteran Congress leader late Virbhadra Singh, who was a mass leader in the state? " I am very clear on one point that the Congress is going to witness major chaos and turmoil in Himachal Pradesh in 2022. The party is at the verge of breaking up in Uttrakhand, it has already split in Punjab and conditions are not better in Himachal Pradesh," Thakur said.
He added that there was an intense group fighting underway in the Congress with different camps were trying to pull the rags from each other’s feet. One group was in Delhi with seven to eight MLAs ,the other was working on game plans to counter the rivals.
The Himachal CM hinted that the BJP will be getting big support from Prime Minister Narendra Modi ,who is likely to visit the state for different rallies and functions ahead of the elections.
There are at least four visits already planned once he gets free from the elections in UP,Punjab and Uttrakhand, he will give maximum time to Himachal Pradesh .
During a recent Delhi visit two days back, Thakur met Union Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and other ministers and asked for clearing Rs 1,000 crore funding for green field airport at Mandi to boost state’s tourism economy and infrastructure, beside raising import duty on foreign apples to protect Himachal Pradesh’s Rs 5,000 crore apple economy.
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