Regardless of years of organisational expertise, the November 12 Meeting polls in Himachal Pradesh would be the first electoral contest for former state Congress president Kuldeep Singh Rathore. The 61-year-old is contesting from Theog constituency, the centre of the apple farmers’ protests that rocked the state. Rathore talks to The Indian Specific about his electoral debut, the Congress’s election technique, the problems within the constituency, the apple farmers’ protests, and the Gandhis.
Excerpts:
Congratulations, you’re lastly making an electoral debut.
Thanks very a lot! Chunaav pehali baar lad raha hoon, par chunaav ladaane ka lamba anubhav hai (I’m preventing the election for the primary time, however I’ve an extended expertise of creating folks contest elections). I’ve been related to the occasion for a very long time and have been serving it in numerous capacities, together with holding completely different posts within the Pradesh Congress Committee.
What’s your ballot technique?
There’s anti-incumbency in opposition to the (BJP’s) Jai Ram Thakur authorities. Costs are rising. Improvement is at a standstill. Unemployment is excessive and the financial system is in a nasty form. We are going to deal with these points. After we registered 4 bypoll (one Parliament and three Meeting) victories final 12 months, I used to be the PCC president. So, I understand how to go to folks and lift points that contact them essentially the most.
Your constituency is within the apple belt and the farmers have been protesting.
True! The apple belt has been utterly ignored by the BJP authorities. The state apple trade is price Rs 5,000 crore. It generates employment and strengthens the state financial system. It was the one shiny spot in the course of the pandemic and it’s not getting the required consideration. The current authorities has stopped the subsidy on fungicides, which apple growers use. An apple carton is attracting 18 per cent GST now.
To avoid wasting the Himachali apple, the Centre had promised to levy 100 per cent import obligation on apples from overseas. That has not occurred. They promised to combine apple juice in Pepsi-Cola drinks (a reference to a press release the PM made to mix apple juice with aerated drinks). That was a giant joke. These corporations have their very own formulations, why will they go in for apple juice?
Then there may be Mr (Gautam) Adani, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s industrialist good friend. He has constructed a managed ambiance retailer within the space. He buys apples for Rs 70-72 per kg and sells them for Rs 250-300 per kg. There’s complete exploitation of apple growers.
How do you suppose the Congress will carry out in these elections?
We’re successful for certain. Folks need change. For BJP’s Mission Repeat, we’ve Mission Delete.
Are you within the Chief Minister’s race?
Janab (sir), I’m not within the race. Deciding on the CM candidate would be the prerogative of the occasion excessive command.
Many Congress leaders stop the occasion not too long ago. How do you view this improvement?
They have been all over-ambitious. Social gathering mein rehate to zyada tod-fod karate (Had they stayed again, they’d have indulged in anti-party actions). It’s good that they’ve gone.
What’s your tackle Mallikarjun Kharge main the occasion?
His win established the truth that there may be inner democracy within the occasion. Nonetheless, bear in mind, the Gandhis will proceed to be the unifying drive. Rahul Gandhi’s padayatra goes to assist the occasion in the long term.
However Himachal Pradesh doesn’t determine on his padayatra route.
We are going to request him to come back throughout campaigning.