‘My focus development, public talking nationalism’

Union minister of state for textiles

Ajay Tamta

who is BJP candidate for the

Almora

seat, talks to TOI correspondent Prem Punetha about the issues in his constituency, the work he has done in the past five years and how he views his chances against arch rival Pradeep Tamta.


What are the issues that you are highlighting in your election campaign?
Almora is a hilly constituency and among the issues that people have grappled with in the past is that of connectivity. But during my tenure, Almora constituency has been connected with broad gauge and an all-weather road is also being built. We also have air connectivity now. Besides, Tanakpur has six trains running long distance. I want to connect more inaccessible areas to the mainstream.

The opposition has alleged that developmental works have come to a halt in the state during the tenure of the BJP...

The BJP regime has brought more development in just 55 months than the opposition has done in 55 years. This is also because the BJP legislators have taken up the cause of development. In two and a half years, I have raised at least 59 questions about various developmental projects in the assembly. The BJP government is committed to development.

So will development be your poll plank or nationalism?
I’m focused on development although people are talking of nationalism. In remote villages when I met people, they said that PM Narendra Modi had made the right decision to conduct air strikes in

Balakot

. Men and women, all of them said that nationalism would be a top poll issue for them.

You are facing Pradeep Tamta from the Congress for the fifth time in the polls. How do you see your chances given that you are facing anti-incumbency and he is a seasoned politician who has defeated you two times out of four.
I am confident that the verdict will be in my favour. People want to see Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister again and BJP back in power.