Congress rests hopes on Virbhadra
RETAINING POWER IS AN ENORMOUS CHALLENGE, CONSIDERING FACTORS SUCH AS SINGH’S ‘FADING’ CHARISMA, ALLEGATIONS OF GRAFT AND POOR GOVERNANCE
SHIMLA: Virbhadra Singh is a sixtime chief minister with an electoral track record that few of his contemporaries can match.
At an age when most politicians would call it a day, the 83-year-old Congress strongman from Himachal Pradesh is giving the upcoming assembly elections his best. And he is doing this despite the stakes being stacked high against him.
Singh and his family are facing cases pertaining to corruption and disproportionate assets, which are being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax department. His son, Vikramaditya, is also making his electoral debut from the Shimla rural constituency. Singh has vacated the seat for him. The Congress, jolted by a string of losses in several states with the exception of Punjab, is equally desperate to do well here. And the party’s hopes rest on the popularity of ‘Raja Sahib’ to tame the belligerent BJP.
Retaining power in the state is an enormous challenge, given all the factors — from Singh’s reportedly fading charisma, allegations of corruption and poor governance, and the revolving door syndrome — piled up against Singh. As it stands, no party has succeeded in retaining power in the state for two consecutive terms over the last three decades. However, Singh, the oldest candidate in the fray, exuded confidence through the campaign. “We have done substantial work in the past five years, opened thousands of new schools and colleges, set up health institutes, improved road connectivity, and created job opportunities,” he said at a rally, declaring that development-oriented governance was his strong suit.
He took on PM Narendra Modi, accusing him of “political vendetta”. Other Congress leaders, including party vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh, focused on GST, demonetisation and inflation to target the BJP.
However, the party’s disorganised campaign could cost Singh dearly. The party’s star cam- paigners either joined election campaigns only in the closing stages or completely gave them a miss. Gandhi addressed three rallies on November 6, a day before the campaigning ended. State leaders also confined themselves to their seats, leaving the burden of countering the BJP blitzkrieg on Singh’s elderly shoulders.
The BJP, on the other hand, flew in its big guns. Besides Modi himself, campaign rallies were addressed by party president Amit Shah; central ministers Rajnath Singh and Smriti Irani; UP CM Yogi Adityanath; and Uttarakhand CM Trivendra Rawat.
Besides hoping to make the most of the BJP’S internal wrangling in Kangra, the Congress is counting on its strong traditional pockets of support to retain power. The voters, meanwhile, are holding their cards close to their chest.