Of 6 disqualified Himachal Cong rebels, 2 defeated ex-CM Jai Ram Thakur’s ministers, another ended political career of BJP veteran Dhumal
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TNR Desk
Rewarding the six disqualified Himachal Pradesh Congress MLAs with party ticket in the Assembly byelections won’t be easy for the BJP as two of them had defeated former Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur’s ministers in the 2022 elections while another had ended the political career of Union Minister Anurag Thakur’s father Prem Kumar Dhumal in 2017.
Following the announcement of the byelections to the six Assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh alongside the Lok Sabha elections, the focus has now shifted to what the opposition BJP’s choice of candidates would be. By granting the ticket to all the six Congress rebels, the BJP is bound to trigger dissent within the party ranks.
Rajinder Rana vs Dhumal faction
In Sujanpur seat of Hamirpur, which is the home turf of all-powerful Union Minister Anurag Thakur, Congress rebel Rajinder Singh Rana had defeated BJP’s Ranjeet Singh by a mere 399 votes in 2022. Rana’s entry into the BJP is likely to be opposed by a section of the BJP leadership as he had in 2017 defeated the party’s chief ministerial candidate and Anurag’s father Prem Kumar Dhumal.
2 ex-ministers’ career at stake
In tribal Lahaul-Spiti constituency, the 1,616-vote victory margin of disqualified Congress MLA Ravi Thakur over BJP’s Ram Lal Markanda wasn’t too high. Moreover, Markanda was Education Minister in the previous BJP government led by Jai Ram Thakur and has strong connections in the party.
In Kutlehar (Hamirpur), Davinder Kumar Bhutto of the Congress had defeated BJP’s Virender Kanwar by 7,579 votes. Virender too is a powerful BJP leader and remained a minister during the Jai Ram government. He is currently the party’s state vice-president. In Gagret (Una), youth Congress leader Chaitanya Sharma had defeated BJP’s Rajesh Thakur by 15,685 votes.
BJP rebel’s votes ‘helped’ Sudhir win
In Dharamshala too, the going won’t be easy for the BJP as in the 2022 Assembly elections, party rebel and then sitting MLA Vipan Nehria had spoiled the chances of BJP’s official nominee Rakesh Choudhary.
Congress rebel and former minister Sudhir Sharma had defeated Choudhary by 3,285 votes. While Sudhir polled 27,323 votes, Choudhary got 24,038 and Nehria, who contested as an Independent, 7,416 votes. Sources said the BJP could even offer the Lok Sabha ticket from Kangra to Sudhir.
With more than two months left for the elections in Himachal Pradesh, there is still ample time to finalise tickets. However, the BJP might choose to expedite the process to commence election preparations promptly.
The Supreme Court is set to hear the petition of the disqualified Congress MLAs on March 18, which could influence the BJP’s ticket distribution process. The BJP had pulled off a major coup in the Rajya Sabha election to the lone seat on February 27 when, despite having 25 MLAs, it beat the ruling Congress that had 40 legislators. The six Congress rebels had cross-voted for the BJP candidate.
