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BJP minister from Himachal outlines reason for bypoll defeat
Pathania’s comments on the BJP’s defeat came weeks after it faced a 4-0 defeat in the bypolls as Congress wrested the Mandi Lok Sabha seat along with Jubbal-Kotkhai assembly constituency.
Himachal Pradesh minister Rakesh Pathania on Thursday said that the ‘overconfidence’ among the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led to its defeat in the recent bypolls, news agency PTI reported. Pathania, however, pointed out that the BJP now has learnt its lessons and is preparing in a united manner to fight the 2022 assembly elections.
Pathania’s comments on the BJP’s defeat came weeks after it faced a 4-0 defeat in the bypolls as Congress wrested the Mandi Lok Sabha seat along with Jubbal-Kotkhai assembly constituency.
“Senior party leaders, including BJP national president JP Nadda and HP former chief ministers Shanta Kumar and Prem Kumar Dhumal besides others, are handling the party unitedly,” Pathania was quoted as saying by news agency PTI. He also refuted speculations of cabinet reshuffle as well as any change in party’s state leadership and reiterated that the state will head into polls under the Himachal Pradesh chief minister Jai Ram Thakur. He said the party’s state unit will also discuss the poll strategy on November 24 in a working committee meeting.
The BJP also lost a seat to Congress in Karnataka while it faced a Himachal Pradesh-like fate in West Bengal where all four legislative assembly constituencies which went to bypolls were won by Trinamool Congress (TMC) as it wrested two seats won by the BJP earlier this year in Bengal elections while retaining two other seats.
The Congress defeated the BJP in the bypolls which were held on October 30, as it wrested Mandi Lok Sabha seat and Jubbal-Kotkhai assembly constituency while maintaining its grip on the Fatehpur and Arki legislative assembly constituencies. The Congress also is looking at the prospect of projecting Pratibha Singh, Congress’ winning candidate in the Mandi Lok Sabha seat and wife of deceased former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh, as its chief ministerial face ahead of the upcoming polls next year.
Goa, Manipur, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh will go to polls in 2022. These assembly elections are also seen as a precursor to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
