Big guns strike ‘2nd home’ chord with Himachal voters

Pratibha Chauhan

Shimla, May 29

As the poll fervour reaches its peak, star campaigners from both Congress and BJP are flocking to Himachal Pradesh. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi tried to strike an emotional chord with the voters, referring to the hill state as their “home”.

The Prime Minister led the BJP campaign as he addressed two rallies in Nahan and Mandi. As in the past elections, his speeches were filled with memories of the people, food and places in Himachal where he spent several years as the BJP in-charge in the mid-nineties.

“Himachal is my second home as I have spent a few years of my life here,” he said, mentioning the names of people he hung around with, among them BJP workers, shopkeepers and journalists. As Prime Minister, Modi’s visit to Shimla is incomplete without a stop at the Indian Coffee House, where “he would hold discussions with local journalists who often paid for his coffee”, something he mentioned in his speech.

The Congress’ counter to Modi’s close affinity to Himachal is Priyanka, who owns a house in Charabra, on the outskirts of Shimla. “You have taken away my sister (Priyanka) as she stays here in Shimla,” said former Congress president Rahul Gandhi at a rally in Nahan last week. The duo’s mother, Sonia Gandhi, too frequents her daughter’s abode here.

Priyanka has always maintained that she belonged to the state as she had a home here. In fact, she spearheaded her party’s campaign in the 2022 Vidhan Sabha elections when Rahul was busy with his ‘padyatra’. This time too, she has taken over the campaign in Himachal, canvassing not only in the four Lok Sabha constituencies but also in four of the six Assembly seats where bypolls are being held.

Prominent among others who campaigned in Himachal or addressed press conferences are national BJP president JP Nadda, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, S Jaishankar and Manohar Lal Khattar from the BJP and Mallikarjun Kharge, Sachin Pilot, Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Shashi Tharoor from the Congress. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will address rallies in Kullu district tomorrow.