Political equations have changed dramatically in the Shimla (reserve) parliamentary constituency where BJP had fielded a greenhorn, H N Kashyap, a retired bureaucrat to take on Colonel Dhani Ram Shandil of Congress, a member of dissolved Lok Sabha.
Shandil was elected to Lok Sabha in 1999 as a joint candidate of BJP-HVC alliance but he joined Congress, the day Lok Sabha was dissolved on February 6 and was given the party ticket.
Both BJP and Congress were looking for a suitable candidate from this seat and persuading Shandil to join the party. While HVC supremo Sukh Ram was bargaining with Congress for suitable adjustment with Congress leaders, Shandil quietly switched over to Congress and the BJP which was responsible for his victory in the last elections was left high and dry.
Shimla seat was considered stronghold of the Congress which won the seat in successive elections from 1952 and lost this seat only twice in 1977 and 1999. But the BJP has never won this seat on its own.