BJP will start central university, introduce yoga in schools if voted to power: Ex-Himachal CM Shanta Kumar

The Bharatiya Janata Party will start work on a central university and introduce yoga in primary schools after "sweeping" the next assembly election in Himachal Pradesh, former chief minister Shanta Kumar said on Monday.

"The BJP will come back to power with a record majority in the state elections to be held this year, he told PTI. The BJP Member of Parliament from Kangra said the party's best performance in the state so far was in 1990, when it won 46 out of the 51 seats it contested. This year, he said, the party would have a higher score, for the situation today was better for the BJP than it was in 1990.

"The BJP is ruling at the centre, the Congress is in a precarious condition in the state, and its chief minister in Himachal Pradesh is facing the worst phase of his political career," he said. He said a pro-BJP wave in the state was apparent at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent rally in Shimla and party president Amit Shah's meeting at Palampur, near Dharamshala, last week. The ex-CM said if voted to power, the BJP government would resume work "immediately" on a central university in Kangra which had been sanctioned seven years ago but had not moved because of the "negative mood" of the present government.

"It is a matter of pride for a small state such as HP to have such a great educational institution and shameful that we have not provided a place for it in the past seven years," he said. Kumar said he had personally taken an interest in the matter and got the clearance from the Centre to set up the main campus in Dharamshala and another campus in Dehra. The MP said it would also start yoga in schools from Standard I.

He said with the collaboration of Ram Dev's Patanjali group, herb factories would be established in Himachal once the BJP returned to power to generate employment in the state.