'Cong hasn’t left anything for us... we will have to start from scratch'
Mr Dhumal is staking his claim to be the state chief minister for the second time. ET caught up with the man in hometown Hamirpur, for a quick chat.
By Viney Sharma, TNN |
When Prem Kumar Dhumal trounced his nearest rival by a margin of over 80,000 votes from Hamirpur Lok Sabha constituency in the last General Elections, the word was out that the BJP strongman is being kicked upstairs to Delhi. Party chief Rajnath Singh was at pains to clarify that Mr Dhumal was very much in the reckoning in state politics, which was hotting up as assembly polls were getting nearer.
And on Friday, as the BJP took the wind out of Congress in the hill state in the assembly polls, Mr Dhumal is staking his claim to be the state chief minister for the second time. ET’s Viney Sharma caught up with the man in hometown Hamirpur, for a quick chat. Excerpts:
Q. BJP has stormed back to power in HP. Whom do you attribute this success to?
Ans. Definitely to the party workers. The fairness with which the voters exercised their franchise shows that they were fed up of the corrupt Congress regime. The rampant corruption had brought development work in the state to a grinding halt.
Q. Don’t you think BSP spoiled the scene for Congress? Even though the BSP managed to win just one seat, it made solid dents in the Congress vote bank across the state. And most of the BSP candidates were Congress dissidents...
Q. What will be your stand on SEZs in the state? The Congress government was opposed to it.
Ans. BJP is not averse to the idea of SEZ. Unlike other states like Punjab, Himachal has very small land holdings so we cannot allow companies to acquire agriculture land. They will be allowed to do so only on the barren lands. Industry is welcome but not at the cost of environment.
Q. Himachal is in a debt trap. The state owes Rs 23,000-24,000 crore to different agencies. How do you plan to generate revenue for the state exchequer?
Ans. That’s a fact. Congress, I am sure, have not left any thing for us. We have to start from scratch. It’s too early to comment on that but definitely we will frame policies that will attract in investment in the state. It was only under the aegis of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee that the tax holidays were given to the hill states.
Q. As announced by you earlier, will you be reviewing the mega projects allotted to the different companies by Congress Government ?
Q. The public perception is that there is a chasm between former CM Shanta Kumar and you. What will he be doing now?
Ans. Mr Shanta Kumar will continue to be graceful like the active role he played during the poll campaign. He has important roles to play at the Centre. We never had any differences, I am glad that our party has such capable candidates. It’s unlike the Congress where only Virbhadra Singh is ruling the roost. This clearly indicates that Congress does not have any leader for the masses. Its leaders like Vidya Stokes are a frustrated lot and have been literally following the diktat of the chief minister.
Q. During your past tenure as CM, there have been allegations that you were giving step-motherly treatment to the tribal and backward areas like Chamba, Lahaul & Spiti and Kinnaur.
Ans. We have won all the tribal seats. For the first time in the history of Himachal, during our Govt tenure, we had lifted the agriculture produce in the upper Himachal through the helicopters. We procured fruits and crops like apple and peas at a much higher price than what Congress could offer.
And on Friday, as the BJP took the wind out of Congress in the hill state in the assembly polls, Mr Dhumal is staking his claim to be the state chief minister for the second time. ET’s Viney Sharma caught up with the man in hometown Hamirpur, for a quick chat. Excerpts:
Q. BJP has stormed back to power in HP. Whom do you attribute this success to?
Ans. Definitely to the party workers. The fairness with which the voters exercised their franchise shows that they were fed up of the corrupt Congress regime. The rampant corruption had brought development work in the state to a grinding halt.
Q. Don’t you think BSP spoiled the scene for Congress? Even though the BSP managed to win just one seat, it made solid dents in the Congress vote bank across the state. And most of the BSP candidates were Congress dissidents...
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Ans. BSP or not, BJP would have come to power in any case. In Himachal, people have only two alternatives, either BJP or Congress. Unlike UP, the concept of social engineering will not work here. A Dalit in Himachal is richer than his counterpart in Uttar Pradesh. BSP has just won on one seat that too with a very small margin. You cannot compare a mountain to a mole.Q. What will be your stand on SEZs in the state? The Congress government was opposed to it.
Ans. BJP is not averse to the idea of SEZ. Unlike other states like Punjab, Himachal has very small land holdings so we cannot allow companies to acquire agriculture land. They will be allowed to do so only on the barren lands. Industry is welcome but not at the cost of environment.
Q. Himachal is in a debt trap. The state owes Rs 23,000-24,000 crore to different agencies. How do you plan to generate revenue for the state exchequer?
Ans. That’s a fact. Congress, I am sure, have not left any thing for us. We have to start from scratch. It’s too early to comment on that but definitely we will frame policies that will attract in investment in the state. It was only under the aegis of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee that the tax holidays were given to the hill states.
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It was during the NDA government tenure that area specific concessions were given but the present party could not make proper use of it and were able to a very small investment in the state. It is very much on the agenda and will be their in the manifesto too. We do want tax holiday to be extended beyond 2013.Q. As announced by you earlier, will you be reviewing the mega projects allotted to the different companies by Congress Government ?
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Ans. Wherever we find a problem, it will be reviewed. At the same time I am making it clear we won’t be playing politics of vendetta. Like in case of hydro projects, it takes years to finally implement and make them operational. In any case we are dedicated to the industrialization in the state. Q. The public perception is that there is a chasm between former CM Shanta Kumar and you. What will he be doing now?
Ans. Mr Shanta Kumar will continue to be graceful like the active role he played during the poll campaign. He has important roles to play at the Centre. We never had any differences, I am glad that our party has such capable candidates. It’s unlike the Congress where only Virbhadra Singh is ruling the roost. This clearly indicates that Congress does not have any leader for the masses. Its leaders like Vidya Stokes are a frustrated lot and have been literally following the diktat of the chief minister.
Q. During your past tenure as CM, there have been allegations that you were giving step-motherly treatment to the tribal and backward areas like Chamba, Lahaul & Spiti and Kinnaur.
Ans. We have won all the tribal seats. For the first time in the history of Himachal, during our Govt tenure, we had lifted the agriculture produce in the upper Himachal through the helicopters. We procured fruits and crops like apple and peas at a much higher price than what Congress could offer.
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