BJP’s fight: Dhumal not happy. The BJP appears to have decided to contest the upcoming assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh without declaring a chief ministerial face. After toying with the idea of projecting Union Minister J.P. Nadda as a possible Chief Minister face, the party has reportedly decided to fight the November 9 elections and make the choice later depending on the results. A thumping victory could pitchfork Nadda to the front, while a win close to the victory margin could favour the old warhorse Prem Kumar Dhumal.
Former two-time Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal will contest from a new seat Sujanpur while state BJP chief Satpal Singh Satti will re-contest from Una, according to the BJP’s list of candidates for the November 9 assembly elections released on Wednesday.
The BJP announced its list of 68 candidates but is silent on declaring the chief ministerial candidate.
The race for the top post is on between Dhumal and Union Minister J.P. Nadda.
The ruling Congress is yet to finalise its list. The only lead it has is that Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi has declared six-time Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, 83, to lead the party to victory and as its chief ministerial candidate.
Dhumal has swapped his present Hamirpur seat with party legislator Narendra Thakur, who will now be the party candidate from the seat. The former launched his campaign from Sujanpur a day earlier.
The list includes several former ministers, including Rajeev Bindal from Nahan and Narinder Bragta from Jubbal-kotkhai, a known apple belt in Shimla district.
Bragta faced a humiliating defeat in the last assembly election in 2012 from Congress youngster Rohit Thakur.
Former Congress cabinet minister Anil Sharma, who had joined the BJP three days ago, has been fielded from Mandi, the seat he represented for three consecutive terms.
Sharma joined the BJP along with his father and former Telecom Minister Sukh Ram.
“I have resigned from both the Congress and the government due to being deliberately ignored by the party. I and Pandit Sukh Ram ji were deliberately ignored at party Vice President Rahul Gandhi’s Mandi rally,” Sharma said after resigning from the Congress.
The BJP list came two days after the process of filing nominations started for the assembly polls. The last date for filing nominations is October 23.
Former cabinet ministers Kishan Kapoor and Ramesh Dhawala, who faced defeat in the last polls, have been declared candidates by the party in this election too. They are contesting from Dharamsala and Jawalamukhi seats respectively.
Kapoor, who may face Congress cabinet minister and sitting legislator Sudhir Sharma, was feeling ignored in the ticket allocation.
At a public rally in Dharamsala two days ago, Kapoor, a four-time legislator from Dharamsala, became emotional and could not control his tears. Several of his supporters were also crying and asked him to contest the elections even as an Independent.
Indu Goswami, BJP Mahila Morcha president and known for proximity with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has been declared candidate from Palampur, the hometown of Member of Parliament Shanta Kumar.
BJP’s Rakesh Verma is contesting from Theog, the seat represented by the eight-time legislator and Congress veteran Vidya Stokes.
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, who has been named Congress chief ministerial candidate, has announced that he would contest from Theog in Shimla district.
Singh has announced to field his son Vikramaditya Singh from Shimla (Rural), the seat he is representing. This is his son’s maiden contest.
The BJP has fielded Congress rebel Pramod Sharma from Shimla (Rural).
Dhumal, 73, a two-time Chief Minister was keen on fighting the polls after being declared the CM face but the party has not warmed up to the idea. He has been now named candidate from Sujanpur constituency after being shifted from his traditional Hamirpur seat.
He is believed to have told the leadership that fighting the elections without declaring the choice of Chief Minister could cost the party dearly and give an edge to rival veteran and Congress Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.
“Whoever you want to declare as your CM, you declare. Be it Nadda or me. Going into elections without a face may cost the party dearly,” a source, who did not want to be named, quoted Dhumal as telling the party General Secretary (Organisation) Ram Lal.
Dhumal held separate meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah and Ram Lal.
Dhumal’s meeting with Modi took place on last Saturday after the BJP’s Central Election Committee deliberated on the names of candidates for the elections.
The party CEC meeting was attended by Modi and Shah. Party veterans Shanta Kumar and Dhumal also attended the meeting along with Himachal BJP chief Satpal Singh Satti and state in-charge Mangal Pandey.
The sources said the leadership was in favour of the party contesting the elections without declaring a chief ministerial candidate. They want to shift Nadda to the state after the polls if the BJP registers a resounding victory.
Dhumal, who was in Delhi for three days until Monday for the deliberations with the party leadership, returned to Hamirpur and held a roadshow in Sujanpur on Tuesday. (IANS)