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Nadda chairs meetings to quell rumblings in Himachal Pradesh
Nadda, who hails from the state and is familiar with the subtleties of the state’s polity, was a “natural choice” to talk the rebels out of contesting as independents or from joining other parties in the fray, according to a party functionary.
NEW DELHI: From helping craft the election strategy in poll-bound Himachal Pradesh to addressing rallies and doorstep canvassing, Bharatiya Janata Party president Jagat Prakash Nadda now has another task at hand — placating the rebels who threaten to upset the party’s bid to retain power in the state.
Ahead of the November 12 polls in Himachal Pradesh, the BJP leadership’s attention has been focussed on preventing discontent among party workers over ticket distribution. In the hill state where the party wants to return to power with a bigger mandate than the previous election, the possibility of rebels throwing a spanner in the works has set off concerns, promoting central leaders to depute 61-year- old Nadda as the troubleshooter.
In 2017, the BJP won 44 of the 68 seats and 48.79% of the votes to form the government in the state.
After the party dropped 11 of the sitting legislators from the list of contestants, five have gone against the party diktat and filed nominations as independents.
Nadda, who hails from the state and is familiar with the subtleties of the state’s polity, was a “natural choice” to talk the rebels out of contesting as independents or from joining other parties in the fray, according to a party functionary, .
“He has been active in the state since the time he was in the ABVP. Over the years, he has forged close ties with leaders and party workers. He also has a friendly demeanour, is non-controversial and these qualities come in handy while ironing out differences,” said the party functionary, not wishing to be named.
ABVP, or Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, is the student body of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, ideological mentor of the BJP.
After former MP and state unit chief, Maheshwar Singh, who announced his candidature as an independent candidate from Kullu Sadar, Nadda flew to Himachal Pradesh on Wednesday and hit the ground running. A party helicopter was dispatched to ferry Singh from Kullu to meet the party boss, who is learnt to have persuaded him to withdraw his nomination.
“Those who do not get the party’s ticket to contest often join other parties; it is par for the course. But this time the leadership does not want to take chances and to prevent any dent in the vote share, all attempts are being made to persuade them to stay with the party and not canvass against the chosen candidates,” the functionary said.
While Singh, whose candidature was withdrawn after his son filed his nomination as an independent candidate, was non-committal in his response after meeting Nadda, a second party functionary said the state unit is hopeful of a “positive outcome.”
Singh, who is considered to wield clout in four segments of Kullu district, for his part told media persons that his decision will be based on the feedback from his supporters.
A third functionary, however, said Nadda has been compelled to firefight in the absence of “credible state leadership”.
“There is a leadership deficit in the state. The chief minister (Jairam Thakur) and the general secretary organisation worked in silos and did not create a cohesive state unit. There are complaints of party workers being overlooked for positions and only a few people being promoted owing to allegiance to either the chief minister or the general secretary organisation. The instability that has been created is now threatening to affect the party’s performance and so the president has had to step in,” the third functionary said, declining to be named.
Although Prime Minister Narendra Modi, union ministers Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh, and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath are expected to address multiple rallies in the hill state, all eyes will be on Nadda’s performance before he winds up his term. Nadda’s three-year tenure as BJP president comes to a close in January, but there is speculation that he is likely to continue in the position for another year.
“From Saturday, Nadda will begin chairing organisational meetings and begin his campaign that will cover areas from Lahual and Spiti to Solan,” the second functionary said.
