Congress Vows To Restore Himachal’s Old Pension Scheme in 10 Days If Elected

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Thursday said the Congress will restore the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) in Himachal Pradesh in 10 days and provide jobs to 1 lakh people if voted to power in the ensuing Assembly elections in the state.

Addressing a public rally at Sataun on Thursday, Mr Baghel said, “The BJP government only brought inflation and joblessness in HP. Now is the time for change. The Congress has promised to restore the Old Pension Scheme in 10 days and give jobs to 1 lakh people if voted to power in the state.”

The Congress held ‘Vijay Ashirwaad’ rallies across all 68 Assembly segments of Himachal Pradesh on Thursday, the last day for campaigning for the November 12 polls, with party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra leading a door-to-door campaign in Shimla.

The objective for the grand old party was to campaign aggressively on the last day and unleash a charm offensive on voters by deploying its star campaigners, led by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, at the forefront.

The party also put out a release stating that it aims to build on the “stupendous success of ‘Booth Jeeto Himachal Jeeto'” with moer rallies and public relations exercises in the poll-bound state.

The Congress’s star campaigners visited temples and sought divine blessings before hitting campaign trail on the last day. They were also seen holding road shows and interacting with voters.

Apart from Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the star campaigners for the Congress on the day included former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot and Rajiv Shukla.

Ms Gandhi addressed a rally in the Sirmaur district of Himachal Pradesh and campaigned door to door in Shimla later in the day.

In its manifesto for the hill state released last week, the Congress had made ’10 guarantees’. Elaborating on the manifesto, chairman of the party’s Manifesto Committee, Dhani Ram Shandil, said an attempt has been made to address issues such as price rise, unemployment and issues concerning employees. He said the party will also work towads meeting the aspirations of women, youth, government employees, ex-servicemen and women in the state.

The 10 poll guarantees of the Congress include the restoration of the Old Pension Scheme, 1 lakh government jobs and as many as 5 lakh jobs for the youth, ₹ 680-crore startup fund for the youth, ₹ 1,500 per month to the women and free electricity of up to 300 units of consumption.

The Congress has also pledged to build four English-medium schools in each Assembly segment, mobile clinics for free treatment in each village, set the price of cow dung cakes at ₹ 2 per kilogram, provision of 10 litres of milk from animal keepers and giving farm owners the liberty to decide the prices of their farm produce.

Invoking the Centre’s contentious Agnipath scheme through which candidates, known as ‘Agniveers’, are to be selected for the Indian Armed Forces for a period of four years, Ms Gandhi had earlier said that if voted to power in the Centre in 2024, the Congress will cancel the scheme.

“We will cancel the Agnipath scheme if we form the government at the Centre. We fulfill whatever we promise. In Chhattisgarh, we had promised loan waiver of farmers and delivered on it,” Congress general secretary had said while addressing a public meeting in Kangra.

The counting of votes for Himachal will take place on December 8.