As the state is likely to go to polls by the end of the year, Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee has announced that the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) will be restored for government employees on the very first day if the party is elected to power.
“It is the policy decision of Congress that OPS will be implemented in the state,” said State Congress President Pratibha Singh while talking to media persons here on Monday.
She said work on preparing the party’s manifesto for the assembly elections has started. The election manifesto would be the policy document of the Congress and would be implemented in letter and spirit once the Congress forms the government.
She said the manifesto will be the Vision Document and will be prepared by taking the public into confidence.
“For this, the party has decided that the Congress will hold public discussions in every assembly constituency to feel the pulse of the various sections of the society including the demands of youth, unemployed, students, women, senior citizens, farmers, MNREGA workers, employees, ex-servicemen,” said Pratibha Singh.
The party has already identified 35 different areas where public discussions will be held, she asserted.
Leader of Opposition Mukesh Agnihotri said that the Manifesto of the party will be the document of the public and will include the OPS demand of the government employees.
Congress governments in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand have implemented OPS and it will be replicated in Himachal as well when the party wins the Assembly polls.
He said that in 2003, the then Atal Vajpayee led BJP government had decided to implement the New Pension Scheme instead of the Old Pension Scheme and directed all the states to implement it.
Responding to a question he said, “The chief ministerial candidate for the Congress party in Himachal will be decided later. Our priority is to win the elections first.”
Congress Campaign Committee President Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu said his main objective is to form the Congress government.
The Congress party is marching ahead with the slogan “Sarkar Badlenge, Halaat Badlenge” (Change the government to change the situation).