Himachal CM Jai Ram Thakur battles development issues in Seraj

Dipender Manta

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Poor condition of roads and delay in completion of development projects are key poll issues in Seraj and Balh Assembly constituencies in Mandi district. Though the contest primarily will be between the BJP and the Congress on both seats, AAP has fielded its candidates on both seats to contest the election.

Seraj Assembly constituency, earlier known as Chachiot, is dominated by the BJP for the last 25 years. The constituency is being represented by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur as a BJP MLA since 1998. The BJP seems comfortable on this seat, where Congress has fielded its old war horse Chet Ram Thakur, who was defeated by Jai Ram Thakur in the last Assembly election in 2017 by a margin of 11,254 votes. The Congress is divided in different factions in Seraj, which will benefit the BJP.

In Seraj Assembly constituency, poor condition of roads is a major issue among the public. Roads leading to Seraj valley are not wide enough. These are full of potholes at many places. During the tenure of Jai Ram Thakur as a Chief Minister, the Seraj valley has emerged as a tourist place, which is in need of better road connectivity to attract more tourists. The CM has developed Tourism Culture Centre and Nature Park in Seraj valley for the attraction of tourists.

However, there is a strong resentment against the CM over delay in construction of government Degree College building at Thachi and slow pace of construction work of government Degree College building at Gadagusain.

In 2014, the then Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh had laid the foundation stone of Gadagussain degree college building and in 2017, he laid the foundation stone of Thachi college building. According to local residents, the construction work of college building at Thachi could not start during the BJP regime, while the construction work of college building at Gadagusain is going on at a snail’s pace.

In Balh Assembly constituency, the BJP faces a tough task in retaining the seat, where main contest is expected between Congress candidate Prakash Chaudhary and BJP MLA Inder Singh Gandhi. Prakash Chaudhary has won three Assembly elections out of five since 1998. He was elected for the first time in 1998 on Himachal Vikas Congress ticket and re-elected in 2007 and 2012 on Congress ticket. In 2017, Prakash Chaudhary lost the election to BJP candidate Inder Singh Gandhi from this seat.

The local development issues hold the key and BJP’s Inder Singh Gandhi is facing strong opposition from the people. The government was planning to construct an airport in Balh, while the residents of this area are opposing it. They did not get any open support from Inder Singh Gandhi on the issue.

Then there was a proposal to channelize Suketi river in Balh area, which inundates agricultural land of farmers during rainy season every year. No progress has been made on the ground on this project. There was a proposal to develop the Rewalsar lake for tourism purpose but nothing has been done in this direction also. The bad condition of the Nerchowk-Kalkhar road stretch is also a major poll issue in this constituency.

Balh Assembly constituency has been dominated by the Congress since long. The Congress has won six out of 12 elections since 1967 till date in 1967, 1982, 1985, 1993, 2007 and 2012, while the BJP has won four elections in the years 1977, 1990, 2003 and 2017.