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•SHISHIR GUPTA: In the last Himachal assembly elections, you felt the impact of the BSP and now enjoy the support of one BSP MLA. Do you think BSP will be a force to reckon in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections?

BSP has contested elections in Himachal for quite a few years but has never had any impact there. For the first time they have won an assembly segment, but that is an individual victory and not that of BSP. So I don’t think BSP has a role to play in Himachal Pradesh. In Himachal, politics are bipolar with clear alternatives: it has to be either BJP or Congress.

•SHISHIR GUPTA: What about the national level?

With the national parties not getting a clear majority, regional parties have grown. However, even at the national level, BSP will not have a large number of MPs.

•SUMAN JHA: You and Shanta Kumar, although rivals, joined forces during the assembly elections, one of the reasons why BJP did so well in Himachal Pradesh. How was it decided that he would come to Delhi and you would be chief minister?

This is a misconception. Shanta Kumar and I have been working together in Himachal Pradesh for a decade. We have fought every election together against the Congress. Each political party has a number of leaders but everybody cannot become the CM or an MP. One cannot have a single-leader party. BJP has a number of leaders of equal status. Any one of them can be the CM and anyone can be in Lok Sabha.

•D.K. SINGH: BJP leaders at the state level want to function in an autonomous manner. But BJP believes in a centralised character for the party. How do you reconcile the two positions?

We have the most democratic set up and I work autonomously. No one interferes with my work. Narendra Modi consulted the state unit when he made the list of candidates for the assembly elections. It was okayed by the high command. In Himachal Pradesh, we went with a list of candidates to the central leadership and not a single one was changed. So there’s no such central intervention. Whatever the state governments say, the high command accepts. That is the most democratic way of working.

•SHEKHAR GUPTA: Unlike in most states, there is no tradition in Himachal of political parties filing cases against each other (when there is a regime change).

No, we don’t do that. But when there is a problem with some documentary proof, we do inquire into it. So we don’t believe in this formula. We cannot afford to lose time in useless vindictive actions. It should be put to use for development works.

•SUMAN JHA: You enjoy a special relationship with Narendra Modi. Do you think in the post-Advani era, Modi will be the BJP leader?

Narendra Modi is a very dear friend. We have worked together; he was in charge of BJP in Himachal Pradesh when we had just seven MLAs and no MP. He has done very well in Gujarat. What the future holds in store can only be known when the time comes but I wish him all the best.

•D.K. SINGH: Your strategy in Himachal has never been centred on the Hindutva movement.

We have always thought that development is the main issue. We don’t depend on these slogans. We work for the common man.

•D.K SINGH: What is your stand on SEZ (Special Economic Zones)?

We welcome SEZs if they don’t disturb our farmers, if they don’t require the acquisition of agricultural land. Area wise we are bigger than Punjab, but our agricultural land is limited. As it is a hilly region, not much land can be brought under agriculture.

•ZEENA NAZIR: Himachal Pradesh has been actively wooing industry by offering a liberal tax duty regime. But how do you reconcile the need to increase industry by lowering taxes with the need to improve infrastructure?

•SHEKHER GUPTA: Also, there are complaints, especially from Punjab, that this tax relaxation should be withdrawn, as all industry is moving to Himachal Pradesh.

Mr (Atal Bihari) Vajpayee announced this special industrial package on December 1, 2002. In the past, we have suffered a lot from the indifferent attitude of the Centre. On November 1, 1966, Punjab was reorganised — certain hilly areas were included in Himachal Pradesh, and Haryana was separated from Punjab. Under the Punjab Reorganisation Act, it was decided that in proportion to the population transferred to the states, concerned assets and liabilities would also be transferred. So 7.19 per cent of the population was transferred to Himchal Pradesh, and we paid the liabilities, but we never got 7.19 per cent of the assets.

The Bhakra dam generates 1,380 MW but we get less electricity than Chandigarh does from it. In the case of the Pong dam, 380 MW electricity is generated. As many as 16,500 families have been uprooted, who have not been rehabilitated so far, and we don’t get a single unit of electricity from there. Then, there’s the Beas-Sutlej link: from Pandoh dam near Mandi, the Beas river water has been taken to Sutlej river near Sarapad: 990 MW electricity is generated from there of which we don’t get a single unit. No royalty either.

For these reasons we pleaded for the special industrial package. The then chief ministers of Jharkand and J&K joined hands with us and we got the package for 10 years. However, the UPA government reduced the concession from March 31, 2013, to March 31, 2007. Later, it was revised and will now be extended till March 31, 2010.

Unfortunately, we haven’t got what we should have. Figures given in the Parliament by the Centre show maximum investment and employment in Uttarakhand and J&K. Himachal Pradesh remains a poor third. There is a problem here: you give a Rs 10,000 crore package to the northeast because of insurgency and terrorism; you don’t bother how much you spend in J&K. However. Himachal’s case is different: with a population of only 6 million we contribute the largest number of soldiers to fight at the border. We lose the maximum number of soldiers to insurgency and terrorism. We lost our best land when dams were constructed. Is this the reward you give to the state that is peaceful?

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