Hyderabad: Ahead of the assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh next year, Pradesh Congress Committee president Kuldeep Singh Rathore has said that the people in the state want change and his party will turn the ruling BJP's Mission Repeat in the state into Mission Delete.
In an exclusive interview with ETV Bharat, Rathore said that he has been visiting various places in the state to strengthen the Congress at the grassroots level.
“After seeing the huge crowds in the Congress rallies, it seems now the people of Himachal want to see a change,” he said
Rathore said that the Congress has always fought against the anti-people policies of the BJP in the state, be it the issue of inflation, unemployment or development.
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Claiming that the state government has failed at all the fronts, he that Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur did not have any control over the administration and was “mixing up the bureaucracy as playing cards”.
“During the Corona period, government's failure was visible at large,” Rathore said. “People were hoping that the government will help them at the time of crisis but the government really disappointed the people of Himachal Pradesh.”
When pointed out that the BJP was on the Mission Repeat mode ahead of next year's assembly elections, he said that Himachal Pradesh has always remained a Congress ruled state while BJP came later because there was no third option in the state.
“The tradition of BJP and Congress ruling the state on alternate patterns has been going on for a long time,” the state Congress chief said. “On the one hand we have to oppose the anti-people policies of the BJP government and on the other we also have to strengthen the party. From this strength, Congress party will convert the Mission Repeat of BJP into Mission Delete.”
When asked about the void created in the party by the demise of Virbhadra Singh, Rathore said that nobody can be compared with the late Chief Minister “because he had his own aura in politics”.
“His work can be seen in every city of the state,” he said. “We have to contest the election in an organised manner and collective leadership is the only way to go ahead.”
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He said that if the Congress wants to win the assembly elections, the party has to field stronger candidates.
“At present I am touring the entire state while conducting surveys also,” Rathore said. “Apart from this, we are trying to give preference to educated and new candidates on those seats where we have not tasted victory for a long time. We are firm on giving tickets to the candidates who have a clean image and calibre to win the election. Our process is underway to select the candidates. We will field better candidates than BJP in the assembly polls.”
Asked if the Congress will project a chief ministerial candidate ahead of the elections, he said that, while Virbhadra Singh was an exception, his party's tradition is not to project a chief ministerial candidate.
“We will jointly contest the election and the Congress party will come to power,” Rathore said. “After the election, the legislative party leader and party high command will take the call on the CM's name. My main job is to bring the Congress party to power and I am not thinking anything more than this.”
