Himachal BJP leaders take charge of fifth phase

Dinesh Manhotra

Tribune News Service

Jammu, December 16

As “incompetent” state leaders have failed to successfully manage elections in J&K, BJP leaders from Himachal Pradesh have taken control over electioneering for the fifth phase, which is crucial for the party.

The BJP’s much-publicised “Mission 44 Plus” largely depends on the fifth phase, where elections will be held for 20 seats. All seats are in Jammu, Kathua and Rajouri districts. The BJP has high stakes in these seats because the party has a stronghold in the areas where elections will be held on December 20.

Of these 20 seats, the BJP had taken a massive lead in 18 Assembly seats in the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year.

BJP sources said the discouraging response of Kashmiri Pandit voters in four phases had worried party leaders and the saffron party had decided not to take any chance now. Central leaders had put the onus on the state unit to ensure 100 per cent participation of Pandits, the deciding factory in half a dozen seats in Kashmir, but the latter had failed miserably to mobilise them.

The sources said despite a strong wave in Hindu-dominated areas, the local unit of the BJP had failed to mark its presence in some areas known as the fiefdom of a Congress stalwart.

Party leaders had assigned this job to leaders from Himachal Pradesh. The decision to depute them had been taken to ensure the victory of candidates in the remaining seats, the sources said.

They said that BJP leaders from Himachal Mohinder Pandey and Ajay Jamwal were looking after electioneering in the Jammu region. Both leaders are known for their organisational skills. Both of them had worked in the Jammu region from time to time. The sources said others HP leaders have also been assigned work: Kirpal Parmar was given charge of RS Pura, Randhir Sharma of Gandhi Nagar, Parveen Sharma of Jammu East and Rakesh Pathania and Himanshu Mishra of Billawar.

Two more BJP leaders from Himachal Pradesh, Jai Ram Thakur and Suresh Chandel, were concentrating on some specific constituencies as well. Although the BJP was putting up a brave face, leaders were not confident of getting adequate seats in the first four phases. This was the reason the party had decided to utilise its energy in the last phase.