Grants, PM Modi’s ‘ties with Himachal Pradesh’ to be BJP poll planks

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s campaign in Himachal Pradesh for the November 12 polls will be pivoted on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “personal ties” with the hill state, preceding his premiership and grant of “generous fiscal assistance” to the state in the past five years.

According to party functionaries aware of the details, with slogans such as “Himachal se jude hai, Himachal ke liye khade hai” (Connected to Himachal and stands with Himachal), the BJP plans to project the development works sanctioned by the Union government and social schemes of the state government as indication of the Prime Minister’s efforts for alleviating problems of infrastructure deficiencies in the state.

“Since the Prime Minister spent a considerable period of time in Himachal in the 1990s when he was in-charge of the state, he is aware of the problems faced by the people here. He was personally invested in ensuring the development of the state and progress of the people,” a party functionary said, seeking anonymity.

Modi’s experience as an organiser and his penchant for innovation in outreach were instrumental in strengthening the party’s presence in the hill state and also contributed to the party’s success in the state polls in 1998, the functionary pointed out.

To be sure, both the BJP and Congress had won 31 out of 68 seats in the polls that year but it was the BJP that ultimately formed the government in the state after getting support from the Himachal Vikas Congress.

“The party office in Shimla was also constructed around the time and the Prime Minister’s name features on a plaque in the building,” the functionary said.

Modi had himself made a reference to being the son of soil and Himachal being his “second home” (first being Gujarat) at a rally in the state earlier this month. He also inaugurated projects worth ₹3,653 crore on the occasion of Vijayadashami.

The Centre also recently announced a raft of projects for the hill state.

The BJP, meanwhile, collated data to draw a comparison between the financial aid granted by the Centre to the state during the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance era and release of funds during the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) rule.

“We have data from 2009 onwards which shows the finance commission grants released for Himachal have significantly gone up since 2015-16. Take for instance 2009, the state received only ₹2,040 crore, by 2013-14 it was ₹1,979, but in 2015-16, the NDA government released ₹8,518 crore and the amount has only since increased. As of this month (of the allocation of ₹10,394 crore for FY 2022-23), ₹6,300 crore have already been released,” a second functionary said, also seeking anonymity.

While the Prime Minister has been the BJP’s face and a consistent crowd puller in all state elections, the party is also likely to stress on the “double engine” government during the poll campaign.

The term “double engine” has often been used by the BJP to suggest that its governments at both the Centre and state have been working together for development of the concerned state.

“Chief minister Jai Ram Thakur’s performance has been good, especially the response during the Covid-19 pandemic. Though there was a period of slump when tourism and other economic activities were brought to a grinding halt because of the pandemic, both the state and the Centre put together resources to ensure there was no shortage of food, medicines and other essential supplies. This aspect of financial aid will also figure prominently in our campaign,” the first functionary said.

In recent weeks, chief minister Thakur announced projects worth ₹1,000 crore which include construction of roads, water pipelines, bridges, schools and medical and healthcare infrastructure.