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HP bypolls: Voices of dissent grow louder in BJP
Mass resignations by BJP office-bearers and elected representatives in Fatehpur segment; banner of revolt raised by BJP leader Chetan Bragta after Neelam Seraik chosen over him for the Jubbal-Kotkhai seat
Trouble is brewing up for the BJP in Himachal’s Fatehpur ahead of the October 30 bypolls as more than three dozen office-bearers and elected representatives resigned after party chose Baldev Thakur as its candidate for the byelection.
Those who quit the party included BJP’s Fatehpur block president Kartar Pathania, block development council chairperson Nisha Sharma, vice-president Dharmender Shunna, block mahila morcha president Suman Bala and 40 elected pradhans.
Kartar said they wanted to know why the BJP chose a person who fought against the party’s official nominee in 2017 assembly elections. “Why was the ticket denied to Kripal Parmar who has dedicatedly served the party for many decades?” he asked.
“BJP workers of Fatehpur are with Parmar. If the party doesn’t change its decision, we all will work against the BJP candidate,” he said.
Meanwhile, Parmar, who had extended wishes of Navratri on his social media page in the morning, is keeping a cryptic silence and his cards close to his chest.
Amid such infighting, it would be a daunting task for the ruling party wrest Fatehpur where it has lost three consecutive elections since 2007.
Chinks in the BJP Fatehpur’s unit became more visible when posters calling him an outsider, referring to his routes in Punjab and not in Himachal, surfaced two days ago.
Parmar had lost the 2017 assembly election to Fatehpur seat by a slander margin of just 1,200-odd votes, primarily due to the infighting. At that time also, similar posters were put up in Fatehpur against him.
Baldev had contested the 2017 assembly election as an Independent. He had secured more than 13,000 votes breaching in the BJP’s vote bank which ultimately resulted in Parmar’s defeat.
Another BJP rebel, former MP Rajan Sushant also contested as an Independent and polled more than 6,000 votes. He has this time floated his own political outfit ‘Hamari Party Himachal Party’ and is again in fray. He will only harm the BJP’s prospects.
Traditionally, voters in areas under Fatehpur assembly constituency have mostly favoured Congress candidates.
Fatehpur was carved out by merging areas of Jawali, Gangath and Nurpur assembly segments in the delimitation process before 2012 assembly elections.
Congress veteran Sujan Singh Pathania, whose demise necessitated the October 30 byelection, had won seven elections from the seat while former BJP MP Rajan Sushant was victorious on four occasions.
Meanwhile, Congress has fielded Sujan Singh Pathania’s son Bhawani Singh Pathania from its traditional stronghold. He filed his nomination on Thursday.
Apart from him former MP Rajan Sushant also filed his nomination.
Bhawani Pathania before taking the poll plunge worked as top executive in insurance and banking companies.
He has already hit the campaign trail and attended more than a dozen public meetings.
Chetan Bragta questions ticket allocation in Jubbal-Kotkhai
Himachal BJP’s IT cell head Chetan Bragta on Thursday raised a banner of revolt against the party after Neelam Seraik was chosen over him for the Jubbal-Kotkhai seat.
Till Wednesday, it looked certain that the party would field Chetan as he was in the forefront of campaigns after his father Narendra Bragta’s death. Neelam is said to be close to urban development minister Suresh Bhardwaj. Chetan’s supporters also staged a protest in Kotkhai’s Gumma on Thursday and decried the party’s decision to allocate ticket to Neelam.
Questioning the ticket allocation, Chetan asked, “What was my fault? I was mourning my father’s death when the party high command asked me to start campaigning. My father had died serving the party. He would not have contracted Covid had the party not sent him to Solan for municipal election campaigning. The BJP will have a lot many questions to answer.”
He added, “If I was denied the ticket due to party’s formula of discouraging dynastic politics, then it should have at least chosen anyone among the senior leaders. Rather it chose a leader who all these years had been conniving with the Congress to weaken the BJP.”
