Anti-Incumbency Is A Myth

Anti-Incumbency Is A Myth

You have been chief minister for 13 years. What are three of your most important achievements?

Why are you limiting it to three? There are multiple. There has been great infrastructural development. More than 1.5 lakh kilometres of new roads have been built. Before 2003, it was routine to have electricity for only four or five hours a day, now it is available round-the-clock. It is the availability of electricity that has made bumper crops possible in a drought year. One of the most important achievements has been the increase in irrigation facilities. We have made 45 lakh hectares irrigable; it was just 7.5 lakh hectares when the Congress was in power. There has been a revolution in agriculture production. During the past five years, production has doubled; that has become our problem, too (laughs). We have received the Central government’s Krishi Karman award five times.

Do you feel a sense of anti-incumbency?

I am not worried as I spend most of my time among the people of my state. I meet thousands of people every day. I do not see any decline of love from the masses. It is true that when you are in power for so long, there are sections of people who feel their expectations have not been met. In any case, anti-incumbency is visible only while sitting here; when you go out to the ground, the myth is broken.