Rewarding 6 Congress rebels or fielding own loyalists? Himachal byelection announcement lands BJP in catch-22 situation
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TNR Desk
Following the announcement of byelections in six Assembly constituencies of Himachal Pradesh alongside the Lok Sabha elections, the focus has now shifted to what the opposition BJP’s strategy would be on the choice of candidates.
The party 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 question being widely debated in Himachal politics is whether the BJP will grant tickets to all the six Congress rebels who had cross-voted for the BJP in the Rajya Sabha election and whose disqualification from the Assembly has necessitated the byelections.
But by doing so, the saffron party is bound to trigger dissent within the party ranks, particularly in seats where the victory margin in the 2022 Assembly elections was narrow.
Rana defeated ex-CM Dhumal
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. Rana’s entry into the BJP won’t be acceptable to a section of the leadership as he had defeated the party’s chief ministerial candidate and Anurag’s father Prem Kumar Dhumal in the 2017 elections.
Trouble in Lahaul, Kutlehar
In tribal Lahaul-Spiti constituency as well, 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 a 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.
Lok Sabha ticket for 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 yet to hear the petition of Congress MLAs disqualified on March 18, which could influence BJP’s ticket distribution decisions.
Sources said the BJP could offer the Lok Sabha ticket from Kangra to rebel and disqualified Congress MLA Sudhir Sharma. Of the four Lok Sabha constituencies, the BJP has already fielded sitting MPs Anurag Thakur from Hamirpur and Suresh Kashyap from Shimla.
