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Shimla MC elections: Nadda to sound poll bugle for BJP during three-day visit
Bharatiya Janata Party’s national president Jagat Parkash Nadda will sound the poll bugle for the Shimla MC polls during his three-day visit to the state which will commence on Saturday
Bharatiya Janata Party’s national president Jagat Parkash Nadda will sound the poll bugle for the Shimla civic body elections during his three-day visit to the state which will commence on Saturday. The MC polls in the state capital are being considered a pre-cursor to the Vidhan Sabha elections due at the end of this year.
He will arrive in Shimla in the morning and hold a roadshow in the state capital on the same day, followed by a public meeting at the state-run Hotel Peterhoff. The main objective of the roadshow is to brace up the party cadres.
In the evening, he will meet the party’s think tank – the core group comprising senior leaders including former chief ministers Prem Kumar Dhumal and Shanta Kumar and Union minister Anurag Thakur. State party chief Suresh Kashyap, former president Satpal Singh Satti and co-in-charge Sanjay Tandon will also be present along with general secretaries Trilok Jamwal, Trilok Kapoor and Rakesh Jamwal. The core group will finalise the strategy for the MC polls and take stock of preparation for the assembly elections.
This year, the civic body elections are likely to be held on the party symbols. The elections to Shimla MC were held on the party symbols in 1997 in and then again in 2012. Despite being in power, BJP lost both mayor and deputy mayor seats to the Communist Party of India (Marxist). However, when Congress formed the government in 2012, it did away with elections on the party symbols.
Congress had ruled the MC for more than 25 years and CPI (M) scripted history in 2012 as it won the posts of mayor and deputy mayor. In 2017, BJP destroyed the Congress bastion as it won 19 seats and Congress 12. BJP then managed support from two independents to form the MC. This time, the party is trying hard to retain power in MC, which will now have 43 wards.
Apart from Congress and CPI(M), Aam Aadmi Party has also announced that it will contest from all wards in the MC polls.
BJP’s national vice-president and the party’s regional in-charge Saudan Singh is currently campaigning in Shimla and has held a series of meeting with state leaders including chief minister Jai Ram Thakur and party chief Suresh Kashyap.
