Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced candidates for all four Lok Sabha constituencies in Himachal, the Congress is still weighing options for Hamirpur and Kangra.
The party has fielded candidates state minister Vikramaditya Singh and Kasauli MLA Vinod Sultanpuri from the Shimla and Mandi constituencies respectively.
In Hamirpur, the Congress faces a formidable challenge in the form of Union minister and sitting MP Anurag Thakur. The seat is a family bastion, with father and former CM Prem Kumar Dhumal having also been elected from Hamirpur in 1989 and 2007.
Thakur himself has emerged victorious from the seat in the last three elections. He defeated Congress’ Ram Lal Thakur by a margin of nearly four lakh votes in the 2019 elections.
Notably, Hamirpur is also the home constituency of both CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and deputy CM Mukesh Agnihotri.
Congress is mulling the name of former MLA Satpal Raizada as well as senior party leader Thakur Ram Lal. The party has also attempted to rope in Aastha Agnihotri, Mukesh Agnihotri’s daughter, to contest from the seat but she has refused.
Congress last won the seat back in 1996.
{{/usCountry}}Congress last won the seat back in 1996.
{{/usCountry}}In Kangra, the BJP went with Rajiv Bhardwaj over sitting MP Kishan Kapoor, a Gaddi community leader.
Congress is thus eyeing to capitalise on the anger within the Gaddi community, which has a significant presence in the Kangra and Chamba districts falling under the constituency.
Former state minister Asha Kumari, who is from Chamba, is among the front runners for the ticket from Kangra. However, party sources said Chamba having fewer voters compared to Kangra, where the majority of the assembly constituencies fall, may tilt things in the favour of Nagrota MLA RS Bali. He had earlier this week written to the Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, requesting him to consult him before a final decision on the party candidate from Kangra is taken.
A senior Congress leader said the party is treading cautiously to maintain a caste balance as well. The party has already fielded a Rajput candidate from Mandi and would not want a repeat with someone like Satpal Raizada in Hamirpur. There are also chances that a new face may be given the ticket from Kangra.
Himachal agriculture minister Chander Kumar, who is in-charge of Kangra parliamentary constituency, said, “We are conducting internal and external surveys to select the candidate. We will find the best possible candidate as per the feedback we get from the surveys.”
In the Kangra constituency in 2019, BJP’s Kishan Kapoor set a record by securing the highest-ever 72.02% of votes, winning the elections with a margin of over 4.7 lakh votes.
Meanwhile, Prem Kaushal, chief spokesperson of the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee, said the party high command is considering various names for both the constituencies and the party is also conducting a survey so that best candidates are fielded.
“The candidates will be finalised soon and the party will come up with strong faces to contest the elections,” he said.