Himachal govt will implement Old Pension Scheme in first Cabinet meet: CM Sukhu

Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, Himachal Pradesh’s new Chief Minister, has assured that his government will fulfil with immediate effect all the 10 key poll promises made by the Congress ahead of the polls, with the most prominent one being a return to the Old Pension Scheme (OPS).

Sukhu said the government will implement the OPS in its first Cabinet meeting.

“In the run-up to the polls, we had given 10 guarantees and we will implement them all. We will first give a transparent and honest government. We are on track to implement the Old Pension Scheme in the first Cabinet meeting as this will benefit all government employees,” Sukhu told the media after being sworn in as the chief minister on Sunday.

He said the win of the Congress in a “Hindu state” was big jolt to the BJP.

“It is indeed a big jolt to the BJP. A Hindu state with Hindutva ideology has rejected them. They should think about this. This is the home state of JP Nadda. Yet Congress under the leadership of Priyanka Gandhi came to power in the state,” he told media persons on Sunday.

Sukhu dismissed reports about a rift in the Congress in the wake of demands to make Virbhadra Singh’s wife and state Congress chief Pratibha Singh the chief minister.

“There is no challenge. She is the Congress chief, we all come under her. I am the leader of the legislators, and the chief minister,” he said.

Crediting Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for the Congress’ victory in the hill state, Sukhu said the party was very clear about not making the elections a “State versus Modi” affair and rather focus on making it a “state vs state” election.

“Two months before the polls, Priyanka Gandhi held a meeting in which it was decided that we will not make this election a Modi Vs state affair. Instead we will make it a state vs state election. This worked in our favour and this win is a result of the meticulous planning,” he said.

Sukhu said his party undertook rigorous research ahead of the elections to identify areas where people were facing problems.

“The idea was to make people aware of the problems in the government’s functioning. Issues such as Old Pension Scheme, unemployment, job crisis, police recruitment scams are very important and we focused on raising them. We made it an issue-centric elections,” he told IE.