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Himachal poll: After first lists, revolt erupts in BJP, Congress
Many ticket aspirants, who found their names missing from the list in BJP and Congress, have announced to contest Himachal assembly polls independently while some have quit from the party posts
Soon after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress announced the first list of candidates, revolts erupted in both parties in several constituencies.
Many ticket aspirants, who found their names missing from the list, have announced to contest independently while some have quit from the party posts as a mark of protest.
The biggest storm is brewing up for the BJP in Dharampur where sitting minister Mahender Singh Thakur’s daughter Vandana Guleria, a member of Mandi Zila Parishad, quit as general secretary of the BJP Mahila Morcha.
“Why daughters are always sacrificed in familism,” Guleria wrote on her Facebook page.
“You can bring ticket from Delhi but not votes,” she wrote in another post.
Interestingly, the BJP has picked up her brother Rajat Thakur as its nominee from Dharampur, from where her father won seven consecutive elections. Over 50 party workers have also resigned en mass in support of Guleria, who was hopeful of getting a BJP ticket. However, Mahender Singh was projecting his son.
In Shimla, party workers were angered over the shifting of urban development minister Suresh Bhardwaj from Shimla (Urban) to the Kasumpti assembly segment.
Enraged workers gathered outside Bhardwaj’s house and later held a meeting expressing their disagreement with the party high command’s decision, many of them resigning from party posts. Meanwhile, Vijay Jyoti Sen, who was a BJP candidate in the 2017 elections from Kasumpti, has announced to contest as an independent. Sen is the sister-in-law of Himachal Congress chief Pratibha Singh.
State vice-president of BJP Scheduled Tribe (ST) cell Vipin Nehria has raised the banner of revolt against the party allotting ticket to OBC leader Rakesh Chaudhary. Supporter of sitting legislator Vishal Nehria, who has been denied the ticket, also held a meeting but Nehria said he accepts the high command’s decision.
“I am an organisational man and will continue to serve the party and perform whatever responsibility is entrusted to me,” he said even as the entire block unit has threatened to quit if the party doesn’t revisit the decision.
A sitting legislator from Chamba, Pawan Nayyar has also revolted. His supporters took out a protest march and told the party to change the ticket within 24 hours or face the consequences.
The BJP has picked up a new face, Indra Kapoor from Chamba. Nayyar, a former Congress leader, had joined BJP ahead of the 2017 assembly elections. He was given a party ticket replacing the then MLA BK Chauhan.
Forest Minister Rakesh Pathania, who has been shifted to Fatehpur from Nurpur, also seems to be in trouble as former Rajya Sabha member Kripal Parmar has called a meeting of his supporters on Thursday to decide the next course of action.
“We would urge the party to reconsider its decision or we will decide what to do next,” he said.
It is most likely that he would face opposition for being an outsider, a strong sentiment in Fatehpur. There are also voices of dissent against the ticket to minister Sarveen Chaudhary from Shahpur.
Meanwhile, the Congress is also facing rebellion in many constituencies. In Kinnaur, the supporters of sitting legislator Jagat Singh Negi have warned the party against denying him the ticket. From Hamirpur, Zila Parishad vice-president Naresh Kumar has already filed a nomination paper as an independent. He was seeking a BJP ticket from Hamirpur from where BJP has reposed faith in sitting legislator Narender Thakur
The Congress has holdup the Kinnaur ticket after State Youth Congress president Nigam Bhandari, who was in the ticket race, threatened to quit.
In Banjar Aditya Vikram, son of former minister Karan Singh, has resigned from the party protesting against the decision of Congress to field former state BJP president Khimi Ram.
Vikram had contested the 2017 assembly election from Banjar as a Congress candidate.
