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HP polls: Two senior Cong leaders jump ship, join BJP
Ahead of the Himachal Pradesh assembly polls, the ruling BJP received a shot in the arm with former Congress minister Major Vijai Singh Mankotia (retd) and former MLA Rakesh Kalia jumped ship, and joined the saffron party
Ahead of the Himachal Pradesh assembly polls, the ruling BJP received a shot in the arm with former Congress minister Major Vijai Singh Mankotia (retd) and former MLA Rakesh Kalia jumped ship, and joined the saffron party on Tuesday.
Mankotia, accompanied by former minister Harsh Mahajan, who also jumped ship last month,and joined the saffron party at BJP national president JP Nadda’s house in Vijaypur village of Bilaspur district.
Last month, Mankotia had announced that he will contest elections from his home turf as an independent candidate, and had ruled out the possibility of joining the BJP.
Mankotia, a habitual party hopper
Mankotia, a prominent figure in electorally significant Kangra, has earned himself the tag of being a ‘party hopper’ for switching sides too often. Mankotia, after retiring from the Indian Army, made a foray into Himachal politics by winning from the Shahpur assembly segment in 1982. He was re-elected in 1985 as a Congress candidate. Mankotia parted ways with Congress in 1990 to join VP Singh’s Janta Dal, which formed a pre-poll alliance and won 11 out of 17 seats.
The Shanta Kumar-led government was dismissed by the centre in December 1992 in the aftermath of the Babri Masjid demolition, and Mankotia returned to the Congress’ fold. He was elected for a fourth-term in the 1993 elections.
He tasted his first defeat at the hands of BJP’s Sarveen Chaudhary in 1998. Mankotia was again re-elected to the state assembly in 2003 and was made tourism minister in the Virbhadra Singh-led government.
Just ahead of the 2007 elections, he levelled serious allegations against then chief minister Virbhadra Singh and joined the Bahujan Samaj Party. He also shifted base to Dharamshala. Mankotia lost, but the party won one seat.
He buried the hatchet with Virbhadra in 2012 and contested on a Congress ticket but lost. He left the Congress again, and ran as an Independent in 2017, but was defeated again. Earlier, he was considering joining the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), but refused after party did not accept his demands.
Losing 3-term legislator, a jolt for Cong
Rakesh Kalia, a former three-term legislator joined the BJP at Gagret. He was inducted into the party by BJP in-charge for Himachal, Avinash Rai Khanna. Kalia was disgruntled after the Congress picked Chaitanya Sharma as its candidate from Gagret over him.
He was elected twice from Chintpurni assembly seat of Una district in 2003 and 2007. Kalia, also a former AICC secretary, shifted his base to Gagret after Chintpurni was reserved in the delimitation exercise. He was elected for a third-term in 2012 and was the chief parliamentary secretary in Virbhadra Singh-led government. He lost the 2017 election to BJP’s Rajesh Thakur.
