‘Aya Ram-Gaya Ram’ politics rejected

Pratibha Chauhan

Shimla, June 4

The voters in the four of the six Assembly constituencies where bypolls were held have given a clear mandate against the politics of ‘Aya Ram-Gaya Ram’ with the ruling Congress winning in Sujanpur in Hamirpur, Gagret and Kutlehar in Una and Lahaul Spiti.

4 disqualified MLAs bite the dust

Disqualified former Cong MLAs Rajinder Rana (Sujanpur), Devinder Bhutto (Kutlehar), Ravi Thakur (Lahaul Spiti) and Chaitnaya Sharma (Gagret) lost the Assembly by-polls, while Congress MLA Sudhir Sharma and ID Lakhanpal sailed through largely on the basis of their own image and rapport with party workers.

The rebel factor seems to have dented the BJP’s vote bank. Dedicated party leaders and workers felt cheated as preference was given to the Congress rebels. “There was resentment and anger among the BJP cadre over the high command giving preference to the Congress turncoats over their own loyal and respected party leaders like Virender Kanwar in Kutlehar in Una,” admitted a BJP legislator. However, the state BJP leadership had no say as the Central leadership took a policy decision of fielding all six Congress turncoats.

Though the BJP managed to placate senior BJP leaders, the voters seem to have rejected the turncoats. Disqualified former Congress MLAs Rajinder Rana (Sujanpur), Devinder Bhutto (Kutlehar), Ravi Thakur (Lahaul-Spiti) and Chaitnaya Sharma (Gagret) lost the Assembly byelections. Four-time Congress MLA Sudhir Sharma and three-time MLA ID Lakhanpal were able to sail through on the basis of their own images and rapport with party workers in both Congress and BJP.

The mandate in four of the six Assembly bypolls could compel the BJP to re-think on opening its doors to all and sundry at the cost of its own party cadre. “This was bound to happen as the Assembly bypolls were nothing short of ‘BJP ka congressikaran’ which the party leadership must reflect on,” admitted a senior BJP leader.

The bypoll results are also a rejection of the BJP’s move to destabilise a democratically elected Congress government in the state. The foundation for the now failed Operation Lotus was laid when Harsh Mahajan, BJP candidate and a former Congress leader, was able to woo six Congress MLAs to vote in his favour, ensuring the defeat of Abhishek Manu Singhvi.