Congress will get absolute majority in Himachal Pradesh: Mukesh Agnihotri

Tribune News Service

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, Nov 15

The Congress on Tuesday said it was headed for an absolute majority in the 68-member Himachal Pradesh Assembly and the December 8 results would herald a change of government in the hill state.

Speaking to The Tribune, Congress Legislature Party Leader in the outgoing Assembly Mukesh Agnihotri, who contested his fifth election from Una’s Haroli segment this year, said the party would “win 45 seats and possibly more.”

Agnihotri, appointed Leader of the Opposition in after the Congress defeat in the 2017 elections, saw the record turnout of 75.60 per cent in the elections, as a signal of “anti-incumbency”, while the BJP termed the near 2017 level (75.57 pc) polling as a sign of “pro-incumbency.” He said, “The BJP is putting up a brave face but was unable to counter the Congress campaign which pinned it down to local issues.”

Agnihotri said the Congress campaign remained high pitched and did not allow the BJP to fight the elections on national issues or Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal.

“The Congress is progressing towards government formation in the state. The BJP is just putting up a brave face. We will form government with an absolute majority of 45 seats or more,” Agnihotri said.

Asked about too many CM hopefuls as a potential friction point in the Congress, Agnihotri said this factor actually worked to the party’s advantage. “All hopefuls projected themselves as future leaders in their constituencies. That was an advantage,” he said.

Asked if he considered himself a chief ministerial candidate, he said, “When I was made Leader of the Opposition in 2017, I was tasked with propelling the party to power. I think I did my best. We managed to stave off the BJP challenge and puncture its claims of a double-engine government. The rest is up to the wisdom of the Congress high command.”

On Virbhadra Singh’s absence and whether that harmed the Congress, he said, “We won four byelections on Virbhadra Singh’s legacy. His legacy lives on. The proof was that after our byelection wins, petrol and diesel prices were slashed.”

On BJP’s statements that only it could resolve the OPS issue and that the Congress promise was false, Agnihotri said, “The day the BJP government lathi-charged employees, who were protesting for their rights, I announced that the Congress would work to restore the OPS. We believe that this government will suffer the same fate as the one led by then CM Shanta Kumar did in 1993 when employees ousted the BJP over the no work no pay policy.”

PM’s popularity, Ram temple were ‘non-issues’

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity, Article 370 abrogation and Ram Mandir remained non-issues in Himachal. We managed to restrict the campaign to the performance of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur as part of our strategy. — Mukesh Agnihotri, clp leader

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