STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Chairman, Democratic Azad Party and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Wednesday observed that the 2022 mandate in Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly elections will be for a change in favour of the Congress as per the tradition and partly due to infighting within the incumbent BJP.
In an exclusive interview with STATE TIMES, Azad recalled the pattern and the tradition of the Himachal Pradesh electors since the past five-six decades and said this time too this is likely to be repeated to pave the way for the Congress to step in for forming the government.
He elaborated that the so-called wave in favour of any party or the performance of the incumbent governments does not matter in this picturesque hilly state as the voters least bother whether the party in power has performed well or utterly bad during its five years tenure in the government. Their mission and agenda remains to change the incumbent government to pave the way to the other party to step in. After five years, the tradition is for the change and therefore this pattern is going to see the Congress to form the government, he added.
Azad said that this time around the Congress remained free from infighting in Himachal Pradesh, which is quite a departure from the usual scenario in the other states during the election times. Times stand testimony that in many cases, the rebel Congress candidates have ensured defeat of the official candidates of their own party. On the contrary, he quipped, during the just concluded elections, the menace of infighting inflicted the BJP, which is otherwise known for its discipline and well-knit cadre base. But the elections witnessed nearly dozens of rebels of the BJP in the fray, giving tough time to the official candidates. BJP’s national leadership also could help in containing rebel syndrome.
Azad said that interestingly and strangely, the Congress displayed complete unity and there was no rebel in the fray, thus bringing hope for the official candidates. The reason why there was no rebel candidate in the Congress Party can be attributed to the fact that every leader and worker of the party assumed that it is their turn to form the government as per the tradition of decades and this realization made them to remain stead forward and united. Azad said the term ‘tradition’ had a negative psychological impact on the BJP leadership and candidates in Himachal Pradesh. They also reconciled with the fact that this time there is going to be change and this tempted some BJP aspirants to contest elections as independents with the thought that it would be better to be MLA at least. This temptation prompted the BJP aspirants, who were denied mandate, to try their luck as independent candidates, Azad concluded.