A war of words erupted on Tuesday between Himachal Pradesh chief minister (CM) Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur over the claims regarding the political mood in the state.
While Sukhu claimed that Bharatiya Janata Party will lose 16 seats in 2027 assembly elections, Jai Ram asserted that the saffron party will return to power with full majority.
“Public sentiment had turned against a large section of the BJP’s sitting legislators. I can say that out of the BJP’s 28 MLAs, at least 16 will not return to the assembly. The people have already made up their minds and will not vote for them again,” CM Sukhu said on sidelines of the state-level function organised to mark the 120th birth anniversary of Himachal Pradesh’s first CM Dr YS Parmar.
Talking about the Bihar bypolls results, Sukhu said poll results in Bihar are not confined to a single state but will also impact national politics.
Dismissing Sukhu’s claim as “political rhetoric”, Jai Ram said, “It appears the CM has started making political predictions. Nobody is taking such statements seriously—not even people within his own party,” Thakur said.
{{/usCountry}}Dismissing Sukhu’s claim as “political rhetoric”, Jai Ram said, “It appears the CM has started making political predictions. Nobody is taking such statements seriously—not even people within his own party,” Thakur said.
{{/usCountry}}Claiming that the political mood favoured the BJP, the former CM said the party would secure a decisive mandate whenever the assembly elections are held.
“The BJP will return to power with a full majority. The recent panchayati raj and urban local body elections have already reflected the public mood,” he said.
Echoing the same sentiments, BJP state president Rajeev Bindal said the mandate received in the recent panchayati raj and urban body elections clearly shows the public is completely disillusioned with the Congress government. He remarked, “Chief Minister is so distressed by the election results that he has started making predictions, whereas he should set aside concerns about the future and account for the promises made to the public”.