Congress candidate for Ranchi parliamentary constituency, Subodh Kant Sahay is contesting the elections on the agenda of urban development. The three-time MP and former union minister is one of the bigwigs of the Congress party and perhaps the only leader from the State who was given a portfolio by the UPA every time he won the elections.
Sahay, however, tasted defeat by a whopping margin of nearly two lakh votes in 2014 Lok Sabha polls. But he takes his past as lessons and assures a victory in the 17th General Elections. In a tete-a-tete with The Pioneer Sahay talks about his opponents, election agendas and achievements that should count. Excerpts:
Q. Bharatiya Janata Party’s candidate and your strongest opponent this time is contesting elections for the first time. How do you see this contest turning up?
A. Sanjay Seth is immaterial. He cannot even ask for votes for himself and has to take (Narendra) Modi’s name even during appealing for vote. What is the relevance of a candidate who cannot even seek vote for himself without taking support of the Prime Minister of India? Will the Prime Minister listen to the concerns of Ranchi’s public? Is he that approachable?
Q. What is your main agenda for elections in Ranchi?
A. Ranchi became the capital of the state only in pen and paper. It never got the urban facilities that a state capital should ideally have. The incumbent governments never bothered to address the civic issues in the city and only made tall promises. You cannot have any agenda other than urban development in Ranchi, can you? Right from the drainage system to roads and public transport to drinking water facility; everything in the city is in dire need of attention and upgrade.
Q. You are saying that the government did nothing for urban development but they got Ranchi selected for the smart city project. How can you ignore that achievement?
A. They don’t even know what a city should be like, how can they plan smart cities? The basic minimum facilities are missing in our own city, where a majority of the urban population lives. And instead of addressing the problems in Ranchi, they are planning a smart city in the outskirts of the capital. What about the families living in Ranchi? Who will address their problems? You cannot ask everyone to relocate to the planned smart city.
Q. What are your past achievements that you are banking on during this election?
A. I, as an MP, brought the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Central University of Jharkhand (CUJ) and National University for Study and Research in Law (NUSRL) to Ranchi.
These are premiere institutions that are providing quality education to the students of Ranchi. Besides, the Food Park project too started when I was the MP here. There were many more plans for development of the city, and they will materialize after we win in 2019.