Sunil Chadha
Shimla: On his first visit to Himachal Pradesh after the BJP’s emphatic victory in the Bihar Assembly elections, party national president JP Nadda is set to lay the foundation stone of a new, swanky BJP state headquarters near Jubbarhatti airport in Shimla, modelled on the party’s world-class Delhi office.
Nadda will perform bhoomi pujan for the new office. The new complex will feature multiple conference halls, digital media rooms, a modern war room, accommodation facilities for leaders and parking space for nearly 200 vehicles, bringing to Himachal an infrastructure footprint similar to the capital’s high-tech headquarters that houses advanced communication centres, expansive meeting spaces, an open-air auditorium and integrated organisational wings.
Nadda arrived in Shimla on Friday afternoon amid preparations for a massive welcome, a show of strength the BJP hopes will surpass the Congress’ crowd mobilisation during Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s Jan Sankalp Sammelan in Mandi.
BJP plans grand welcome; aims to outnumber Congress’ Mandi rally crowd
The party is gearing up for an “Abhinandan Samaroh” at Peterhoff, where leaders say at least 15,000 supporters are expected. Mobilisation drives were held across all 17 Assembly segments of the Shimla parliamentary constituency, along with Rampur, Kinnaur, Ani and Lahaul-Spiti. Party MLAs, 2022 candidates and district functionaries have been assigned turnout targets.
BJP leaders claim the response at Peterhoff will be “as big as, if not bigger than” the crowd Congress showcased at Mandi’s Paddal Ground a day earlier.
Visit aims to counter charges of ‘blocked’ central grants
Nadda’s tour is being viewed as the BJP’s formal counteroffensive against allegations made by CM Sukhu and Deputy CM Mukesh Agnihotri, who accused the Centre of withholding disaster-relief funds and claimed that the state BJP unit deliberately stalled central grants.
According to party sources, Nadda will use the Peterhoff stage to rebut each allegation, stressing that the Union government has already extended substantial assistance, including special disaster support, and that Congress leaders are “misleading the public to mask administrative failures.”
Nadda’s visit will energise cadre ahead of 2027: Bindal
State BJP president Rajiv Bindal said the workers were preparing for a “grand and emotional welcome”. “Nadda ji’s arrival has infused new enthusiasm among the cadre. His guidance will strengthen the organisation and set the tone for the 2027 Assembly elections,” he said.
Bindal added that Nadda’s clarifications on central assistance would “expose the misinformation spread by the Congress government at the Mandi rally”.
