TNR News Network
Dharamshala
Differences within the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Kangra leadership appear to be coming increasingly into public view, with the political equation between Kangra MLA Pawan Kajal and Dharamshala MLA Sudhir Sharma drawing renewed attention.
The latest talking point emerged during the BJP’s recent protest outside the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau office in Dharamshala following the registration of a disproportionate-assets case against Sharma. The party had called its workers, office-bearers, former MLAs and prominent leaders to the protest. While several senior BJP leaders and functionaries participated, Kajal was conspicuous by his absence.
The absence has attracted attention because it comes against the backdrop of a series of occasions where the two leaders have not appeared together, despite both holding significant positions in the BJP’s Kangra organisation.
Sharma, the BJP MLA from Dharamshala, is currently facing an FIR registered by the Himachal Pradesh State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau over allegations of possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. The agency has said its preliminary inquiry examined income-tax returns, election affidavits, property records and other documents before the FIR was registered. Sharma has rejected the allegations and described the case as politically motivated.
The political significance of Kajal’s absence is heightened by the fact that the two leaders have recently been assigned responsibilities together by the BJP. In April, the party entrusted Pawan Kajal, Sudhir Sharma and Sachin Sharma with responsibility for the Dharamshala Municipal Corporation election, while the party has also involved both leaders in its wider organisational and electoral planning.
That makes the visible distance between the two leaders increasingly noteworthy.
From a photograph to a pattern of political distance
The current speculation is not based on a single event.
Political observers in Kangra have been discussing the relationship between Kajal and Sharma since a photograph uploaded on Kajal’s social-media account showed the two leaders together but with Sharma cropped out. While the intention behind the cropping cannot be established merely from the photograph, the episode triggered considerable political discussion within local BJP circles.
Since then, there have been several occasions when Kajal has been absent from programmes associated with Sharma, including a gathering marking Sharma’s birthday, where other BJP leaders and functionaries were present.
None of these absences, individually, establishes a political rupture. But taken together, they have created a perception of distance between two of BJP’s prominent faces in Kangra.
The issue becomes more significant because Kangra is the state’s largest political district and has historically played a decisive role in determining the political direction of Himachal Pradesh.
Kajal and Sharma: Both important, but different political trajectories
Kajal and Sharma have arrived in the BJP through very different political journeys.
Kajal, a two-time MLA from Kangra, moved from Congress to the BJP before the 2022 Assembly elections and won the Kangra seat on the BJP ticket. The move itself had been politically significant because Kajal had previously served as a prominent Congress leader in the district. The Indian Express had described his shift to the BJP as part of the party’s strategy to strengthen its position in Kangra.
Sharma, meanwhile, was a long-time Congress leader and former minister before joining the BJP in 2024. He subsequently won the Dharamshala Assembly by-election on the BJP ticket. His victory in the 2026 Dharamshala Municipal Corporation elections, where the BJP won 11 of 17 wards, further strengthened his position as a major political force in the district.
The two therefore represent important but different political networks within the BJP’s Kangra landscape.
The Sudhir Sharma factor
Sharma’s growing political profile has also not been without challenges inside the BJP.
His transition from Congress to BJP was itself contentious. His entry had previously triggered opposition among sections of the BJP’s local leadership, with reports at the time highlighting resistance to his induction.
More recently, Sharma has emerged as one of the BJP’s most vocal attackers of the Sukhu government. He has repeatedly accused the Congress government of political vendetta and administrative failure. After the Vigilance FIR, he again alleged political motivation behind the case.
However, his political positioning has not always translated into visible, unanimous backing from every senior BJP leader in Kangra.
His recent remarks surrounding Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s Kangra visit—including the controversial reference involving “Chamba chappal”—also became a subject of political discussion. Publicly visible support from senior BJP leaders such as Vipin Singh Parmar and Rakesh Pathania was not evident, adding another layer to questions about how much unanimity exists within the party over Sharma’s increasingly confrontational political style.
However, the absence of public endorsement should not by itself be interpreted as opposition or a formal disagreement.
Kajal’s role adds another dimension
Kajal remains an important BJP figure in Kangra. The party has continued to give him organisational responsibilities; in the recent municipal corporation election process, he was entrusted with coordinating the Dharamshala campaign along with Sharma and other senior leaders.
His political activity in Kangra has also remained visible. In June, Kajal, a BJP state vice-president, was publicly campaigning on issues including healthcare and local development.
That makes his repeated absence from events involving Sharma harder to dismiss as merely a scheduling issue—although Kajal’s own explanation, if any, would be essential before drawing a definitive conclusion.
Is this a personal equation—or a larger political question?
The bigger question is not simply whether Kajal and Sharma get along.
The real issue is whether the BJP’s expanding political footprint in Kangra is developing multiple centres of influence.
The BJP currently controls a significant part of Kangra’s political landscape, and both Kajal and Sharma are among its prominent faces. The party also has other senior Kangra leaders, including Vipin Singh Parmar, Rakesh Pathania and others, with their own political bases.
Kangra’s electoral importance makes internal coordination particularly important. The district has 15 Assembly constituencies, and political analysts have long regarded its electoral verdict as crucial to government formation in the state.
The question for the BJP is therefore not whether individual leaders have differences—political parties routinely contain competing ambitions—but whether those differences remain manageable within the party organisation.
The 2027 question
With the next Assembly election approaching, the equation between Kangra’s BJP leaders will be watched closely.
Will Kajal and Sharma work together as part of a common BJP strategy?
Will the party succeed in keeping competing political networks aligned?
Or will Kangra witness the emergence of separate power centres within the BJP?
For now, there is no public confirmation of a formal split or open confrontation between Pawan Kajal and Sudhir Sharma.
But the repeated absences, the social-media episode, differences in political positioning and the contrasting public profiles of the two leaders have created enough signals for the question to be asked:
Is Kangra BJP heading towards a quiet power contest between Pawan Kajal and Sudhir Sharma—or is this simply political distance being amplified by speculation?
The answer may become clearer as the BJP moves deeper into its preparations for the 2027 Assembly elections.
