By Express News Service
NEW DELHI: The BJP is banking on the Dalit vote base in Himachal Pradesh to wrest the power in the state from the ruling Congress. The party, which will unveil the vision document, soon is focussing on 20 reserved constituencies in the state.
Dalits constitute nearly 25 per cent of the state's population.
“The BJP currently has five MLAs representing the reserved constituencies in the state. There are 17 seats reserved for scheduled castes and three for the scheduled tribes. The Virbhadra Singh led Congress government has let Dalits down in the state and completely ignored them. The economic conditions of Dalits have only worsened during the reign of the Congress in the state,” the BJP national secretary Dushyant Gautam said.
The state unit of the BJP is learnt to have prepared the vision document. “We are awaiting an audience from senior party leaders from Delhi to take a presentation before it’s made public. We are going to focus on improving infrastructure with an aim to attract a large number of tourists,” a senior state BJP leader said.
Gautam said that tourism will help create jobs for dalits in the state. “We want to improve the educational standards of the children belonging to the reserved categories in the state. The BJP government, if elected to power, will substantially enhance the scholarships for the children, which can help them access better opportunities in the state and outside,” added Dushyant.
Himachal Pradesh has 68 Assembly constituencies out of which 20 are reserved. The Congress had 15 of such seats in the 2012 state polls.
