‘Experienced leader to be CM candidate’

SHIMLA Union finance minister Arun Jaitley released the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) vision document for Himachal Pradesh on Sunday at an event where he said one of the experienced leaders of the party will be the chief minister candidate.

While the ruling Congress party has declared incumbent CM Virbhadra Singh as its CM face, the BJP is hoping to ride the Modi wave yet again.

“Not declaring a CM candidate is part of the electoral strategy for Himachal Pradesh,” said Jaitley. “The party will appoint one of its very experienced leaders as chief minister of the state when voted to power,” he said.

“We believe the party will form the government in the state and work for enhancing the integrity quotient of the governance,” he added.

Accusing the present dispensation led by Singh for running a “government without credibility”, Jaitley said, “Virbhadra government was confined to the self survival. And government which works with the self survival instinct always defies the mandate given by people.”

“We have to work double in next five years as Congress did not work for the welfare of people of the state,” he added. He said the Centre has made it evident that there was no place for political corruption in the country. About the newly launched GST, Jaitley said the GST council had initially set an exemption limit of ₹20 lakh for states, but hill states including HP, chose a lower limit of ₹10 lakh because of their size.