BJP in wait and watch mode over nominees for Kangra, Mandi seats

Pratibha Chauhan

Shimla, March 14

The BJP has adopted a wait and watch policy on the issue of finalisation of candidates for the Mandi and Kangra parliamentary seats. There is speculation that the BJP may field disqualified Dharamsala MLA Sudhir Sharma from Kangra.

The BJP has so far announced the names of Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur for the Hamirpur seat and Suresh Kashyap for the Shimla (Reserved) constituency. Speculation is also rife that the BJP may take the final call on the candidate for the Kangra seat after the hearing in the Supreme Court on March 18 in the case regarding the disqualification of six Congress MLAs.

The possibility of the BJP fielding Sudhir Sharma cannot be ruled out, as he is said to be keen to contest the Lok Sabha elections. The other strong contenders for the Kangra seat are Gaddi leader Trilok Kapoor, former minister Rakesh Pathania, Ghanshyam Sharma and Rajeev Bhardwaj. Party sources hinted that the party leadership was unlikely to repose faith in sitting Kangra MP Kishan Kapoor.

For the Mandi seat, the BJP is likely to wait for the Congress to announce its candidate. If the Congress again fields sitting MP and state Congress president Pratibha Singh, the BJP can field former Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur.

Pratibha’s victory in the Mandi Lok Sabha byelection in 2021 following the demise of sitting BJP MP Ram Swaroop was a big setback for the BJP. Pratibha won the bypoll when the BJP was in power both in the state and at the Centre. She defeated BJP’s Brig Khushal Thakur (retd) by a slender margin of 7,490 votes but it caused a major embarrassment to the then Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, as Mandi is his home district.

Jai Ram, Sudhir front-runners

• If the Congress again fields sitting MP and state Congress president Pratibha Singh, the BJP can give ticket to former Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur
• The possibility of the BJP fielding Sudhir Sharma from Kangra cannot be ruled out, as he is keen to contest elections