For Shimla Assembly segment and for four-time Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Suresh Bhardwaj, the cabinet berth was long due.

The state capital got it after 37 years, and Bhardwaj at the age of 65 years, after putting in hard work for over four and a half decades.

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Suresh Bhardwaj was first elected MLA in 1990 and has won three times consecutive elections from Shimal Urban seat, since 2007.

“It’s God’s wish. It was due in 2007 when I came back from Rajya Sabha. I couldn’t get it then, for some peculiar circumstances. I never asked for it,” senior BJP leader Bhardwaj told The Statesman, as he tried to settle down in his office with Education (Higher and Elementary), Parliamentary Affairs and Law portfolios.

Shimla segment had got Daulat Ram Chauhan, a powerful cabinet minister in Janata Party government from 1977-80.

Now, Bhardwaj, although a first timer in cabinet, is seen as a senior leader with lot of hopes from him, especially in the Education Department, which needs a revolutionary approach for improvement.

In between, BJP leader from Jubbal Kotkhai, Narendra Bragta won from Shimla constituency in 1998 and was made a minister of state in the then BJP-HP Vikas Congress government. He later shifted back to Jubbal Kotkhai.

Bhardwaj is from Rohroo in Shimla district, but has lived in Shimla all through and has raised the local problems in and outside assembly.

A disciplined politician, he is known for his clean image and plain speak, and above all, loyalty for organisation than individuals in BJP politics.

Bhardwaj was national secretary of the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarathi Parishad (ABVP) back in 1973-74 and became president of state BJP from 2003-06. He also remained RSS pracharak for three years. “Wherever, I have been, I came from the bottom,” Bhardwaj claimed.

With the change of leadership in BJP, first in 1998 and then in 2017, he said, “In BJP, the replacement comes with the system. At every point of time, we had young leadership. The party grows with generation change. But, see the cabinet is balanced. There are experienced people and new energy.”

Asked about his priorities in the Education Department, the new minister is quick to reply at length.

“I don’t know how much time will get for this. But none has so far focused on the issue of quality education, the education with moral values and job oriented courses. Education had only meant transfers of teachers for any minister. Even in Vidhan Sabha, we haven’t had discussions on the quality issues and suggestions,” Bhardawaj said.

On the need of a strict transfer policy for government employees, Bhardwaj said, “Haryana and Gujarat have made some system for this. We will study that. But the problem in HP is that the number of employees is very high. We will see.”