Summary:
Shimla, Nov 10 (PTI) The presence of several chief ministerial faces in Himachal Pradesh is not the Congress’ weakness but its strength, party president Mallikarjun Kharge said on Thursday as the campaign for assembly elections in the hill state drew to a close.
The ruling BJP, in contrast, is going into elections banking just on Prime Minister Narendra Modi"s face because it is "aware of the failures of the chief minister (Jairam Thakur) and the state government", Kharge, who is overseeing his first elections after assuming charge as Congress president last month, said.
"The PM is saying don"t look at the candidate, vote for me.
This attitude belittles the people of Himachal Pradesh.
They know the prime minister will not be there in the state after the voting ends," the Congress veteran told PTI in an interview, referring to Modi’s campaign speeches.
Confident that the Congress will wrest power from the BJP because the people were determined to bring in change, Kharge said his party is going into the elections on November 12 under a collective leadership.
The state has not re-elected a government since the 1980s.
"The BJP has nothing to show in the form of governance, that is why it is continuously attacking the Congress on non issues.
We have several capable leaders who can be chief ministers.
We see it as our strength and not weakness," Congress chief said.
Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee president Pratibha Singh, the wife of six-time chief minister Virbhadra Singh, Congress Legislature Party leader Mukesh Agnihotri and former PCC president Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu are among the top contenders to helm the state if the party is voted to power.
Six-term MLA Asha Kumari and party stalwart Kaul Singh Thakur are also in the race.
The Congress, he said, had "full faith in the people of the hill state".
"For a political party every single election is significant.