Political campaigning freezes in Himachal

HEAVY WEATHER: The bitter cold in Himachal Pradesh has put a dampener on the campaign proceedings for many parties.

Featured Blog

Rajdeep Sardesai

Maharaj or Dada, Ganguly's legacy lives on

Featured Slideshows

New Delhi: Politicians in Himachal Pradesh have just discovered that it is a bit too cold to campaign in the state.

While polling is over in three tribal seats, the campaign meetings of a number of leaders have been cancelled in the remaining 65 assembly constituencies, where elections will take place on December 19.

Says BJP leader Satpal Jain, “In the upper reaches, there is a problem of snow and weather. But people have already made up their minds and the weather is not going to make a difference to them.”

Jain may or may not be right.

The election mood has dampened also because local issues are finding little mention at campaign meetings, which more often than not tend to focus on national issues.

Satpal Jain has often spoken against rivals Congress using the recent history of bomb blasts as an example.

“There have been so many blasts across the country. What action has the Congress taken?” he often asks.

Similar is Congress Minister of State for External Affairs, Anand Sharma, who was heard saying, “We should use Thorium as a fuel. It is important for us as it is used in fast breeder reactors and India has the largest amount of Thorium reserves.”

The Election Commission had advanced the poll process only in three upper Himachal districts as it had not anticipated bad weather in the rest of the state at this time of the year.

With inputs from Nida Hasan