Voters looking beyond two parties: AAP Himachal chief Surjeet Thakur

The BJP is trying to create a perception that AAP is withdrawing from the contest but it’s not true. No party’s government has repeated in the state. This shows that both Congress and BJP were repeatedly rejected after every five years, AAP president Surjeet Thakur tells Subhash Rajta. Excerpts.

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THE TRIBUNE INTERVIEW: Surjeet Thakur, AAP state president

The AAP campaign seems to have lost its steam in the last one and half month.

We have a different style of campaigning. We believe more in door-to-door campaign than in holding big rallies. We have already reached more than 11 lakh households with our guarantees in the last one month. From tomorrow, our central leaders will kick-start the final phase of our campaign by holding road shows. The BJP is trying to create a perception that AAP is withdrawing from the contest but it’s not true. Of course, we can’t hold endless rallies like the BJP because it’s not possible to do so through honest means.

Himachal is blessed with so many natural resources, which need to be used optimally for revenue. There’s so much scope for tourism, but little has been done for its promotion.

There were claims that several big BJP and Congress leaders will join AAP but none did so. What happened?

Many leaders wanted to join AAP with conditions like ticket allocation, post etc. AAP doesn’t allow anyone to join it with such conditions. When we did not make any such commitments to anyone, they changed their mind. Anyway, it’s no loss for us.

Traditionally, Himachal has not shown interest in the third front. Why do you think the state will accept AAP?

Look at the past 30 years, no party has been able to form government again in the state. It shows that both Congress and BJP were repeatedly rejected after every five years. As people had no credible alternative, they kept choosing between the two parties alternately. In AAP, people now have a solid option. Our works in Delhi and Punjab are there for everyone to see. So, people will definitely look beyond these two parties.

You are guaranteeing free quality education and health services, besides the old pension scheme. Can the state burdened with Rs 70,000 crore debt afford these?

We are doing it in Delhi, where we have the same resources as the previous governments. You just need to end corruption, and there will be no dearth of money to fund welfare schemes. Himachal is blessed with so many natural resources, which need to be used optimally for revenue. There’s so much scope for tourism but little has been done for its promotion. For example, there are around 6,000 circuit houses, guesthouses and rest houses in the state which are used only by ministers and their close ones. If these are used for tourism, these will become revenue generating sources instead of liabilities.

Any possibility of an alliance with the Congress, if required?

No. We want to fight and remove corruption that these two parties have strengthened. If we join hands with these parties, how are we going to build a fair, honest and transparent system?