With Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday calling him “popular and diligent chief minister” and his “friend”, Jai Ram Thakur claimed that the BJP will again form the government in Himachal Pradesh. Addressing a ‘Garib Kalyan Sammelan' organised to mark eight years of BJP government at Centre, Thakur said: “Recently, elections have taken place in five states. It was said several times that it’s a reewaj (tradition) that a change takes place after five years and it would happen. But you (voters) have changed that tradition. Four out of five states where the BJP was in power, the party had come in power again. With your blessings, we will change this reewaj in Himachal Pradesh too and will form the government again.” Himachal Pradesh has a history of voting in a new government every five years. The Assembly polls in the state are scheduled this year end. While Congress is trying to regain power, the AAP is trying to expand its footprints in the state especially after its stunning performance in the neighbouring Punjab. Addressing the event, the Prime Minister, while appreciating the work done by the Thakur-led government in the state during the pandemic, said that Himachal Pradesh has shown the way to other states of the country by becoming first in administering first and second doses of covid-19 vaccine. He said that Dev Bhoomi Himachal was also his karambhoomi as for years he has worked in the state. He also appreciated the work done by the Himachal government in effective implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission in the state. In December 2021 too, while addressing a rally in Mandi on completion of four years of the Thakur government, Modi had said: “Jai Ram ji and his diligent team has not left any stone unturned for fulfilling the dreams of the people of Himachal Pradesh.” He had added that the state had scaled new heights of development in the past four years. The appreciation had come almost two months after BJP’s bypoll rout had put Thakur in the firing line as Congress had won all the three Assembly seats and Lok Sabha seat of Mandi which went to bypolls in October 2021. Critics of BJP had claimed that alleged factionalism in the saffron party also proved costly to it during the bypolls.
