The opposition BJP in Himachal Pradesh, which tripped on the issue of Old Pension Scheme (OPS) for employees in 2022 Assembly elections, is again on backfoot on the same issue, specially as the Congress government has brought over 1.36 lakh eligible employees in OPS fold from the New Pension Scheme (NPS) as per its poll promise.
While Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has categorically mentioned that the Congress government would continue with OPS in any case, the BJP is unable to respond.
This is mainly because Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur, formerly Chief Minister, had firmly told the employees to come and fight elections if they wanted OPS— a statement which went viral in the last elections and is again staring at BJP's face.
Recently, Union Health Minister, JP Nadda was caught unawares, when asked about BJP's stand on OPS, during his visit to Shimla. " The BJP's stand is the same as was in the 2022 election," Nadda replied, as he fumbled badly in the press conference when confronted with another question that what will the BJP do to the employees, who have been reverted to OPS by the Congress government.." We will see. Jai Ram Thakur and the party leaders ( pointing to state BJP chief Dr Rajeev Bindal) will work out the details," he said.
Since then however the video clip of Nadda has gone viral, causing much damage to BJP, which is finding it difficult to wriggle out of the OPS issue now.
Leader of Opposition, Jai Ram Thakur made it more obvious at a press conference in Shimla on Saturday. When he was asked that Chief Minister has been alleging that BJP will stop the OPS if it came into power, Thakur said, " We don't want to talk about all these issues. BJP will come into power..There is so much time still to talk about all these issues," he said, clearly evading the subject.
It is pertinent to mention that Himachal Pradesh has over 3 lakh employees in the government sector, and the employees make a heavy dent in the electoral prospects of any party in polls. Keeping in view this, the political parties try to placate the employees during their tenures in power. However, in 2022 Assembly polls, then BJP CM Jai Ram gave a statement against employees in overconfidence on their demand for OPS, which had polarised The employees against BJP.
The Congress grabbed the opportunity to cash in on the feeling amongst employees and promised them in the run up to 2022 polls that on coming into power, it would implement OPS all eligible employees..And it actually did it within a few months of coming into power, which became a major score of Congress against BJP.
Now in the run up to 2027 Assembly polls, the employees fear that BJP would again revert them from OPS to NPS ( New Pension Scheme) , a system that started after 2003 in the entire country, or Unified Pension Scheme ( UPS) started by the Government of India recently.
"The BJP did it in Rajasthan after it ousted Congress from power a few years back.It reverted to NPS . They will do in Himachal also and may switch to UPS now, which will be a loss for employees as OPS is far far better than other schemes as per the quantum of the pension amount," analyse a cross section of employees in HP.
All said and done, OPS will certainly turn out to be thorn in the flesh for BJP in Assembly polls in Himachal next year as BJP can not committ for OPS in HP, despite it being a crucial issue, going by its national policy.
Also read: HP Minister slams Sudhir Sharma over remarks against Sukhu
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