Prime Minister Narendra Modi is slated to address his first rally in Himachal Pradesh at Mandi on May 10. So far, the political discourse in all the four parliamentary constituencies of the state has focussed on issues that are more local than national, and most importantly, on development.
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If Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur maintains that many works got a huge push during his tenure, former chief minister Virbhadra Singh has yards and yards of development stories to tell. Winning the constituency is important for the BJP and the chief minister for the reason that it has 17 assembly segments. Anurag Thakur, BJP candidate and sitting MP from Hamirpur, speaks of development works that were the result of his efforts, as he goes around seeking a fourth term.
Hamirpur was represented by his father Prem Kumar Dhumal, who vacated the seat to become chief minister of the state. A young Anurag won a by-election to the Lok Sabha from this constituency in 2008, and has won every election to the lower house since.
At one of the rallies, he spoke about rail linkage and professional educational institutions. “It is thanks to my efforts that work on the Nangal-Una-Talwara rail link was expedited. The Union railway ministry also approved the Una-Hamirpur rail line. Work on premier institutions, including the AIIMS and Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), started during my tenure.” He also told voters about the roads that got built because of his intervention, never mind that the Congress leaders say they were sanctioned thanks to the efforts of former chief minister Virbhadra Singh.
In his website, Anurag mentions his 'Young Global Leader 2014', awarded by the World Economic Forum, and the fact that he was featured in '25 Indians to Watch' by the Financial Times. The former national president of the BJP's Yuva Morcha does not spare the Congress, whose candidate is 67-year-old Ram Lal Thakur, a legislator from the Naina Devi assembly segment. If Anurag is a three-time MP, Ram Lal is five-time MLA, and was made a minister of state with independent charge of games and youth affairs, the very first time he made it to the legislature.
Incidentally, Congress president Rahul Gandhi will also be campaigning in Himachal on May 10, and a major rally has been planned at Una, which falls in the Hamirpur constituency. The campaign discourse in the mountain state that day is doubtless going to be vitriolic.
