BJP ticket hopefuls upset as party brass fields 6 Congress rebels in Himachal

Pratibha Chauhan

Shimla, March 26

Angry BJP workers and leaders today resigned in protest against the decision of the party to give ticket to all six Congress rebels, who had joined the party recently, to fight the byelections in their constituencies.

BJP leaders and ticket hopefuls, who had unsuccessfully contested the 2022 Assembly poll, were apprehensive that the party would field the six disqualified Congress MLAs but the list of candidates confirmed their worst fears. The block BJP unit of Lahaul and Spiti resigned en mass and announced support to Dr Ram Lal Markanda.

The BJP today announced ticket for Sudhir Sharma (Dharamsala), Rajinder Rana (Sujanpur), Ravi Thakur (Lahaul-Spiti), Inder Dutt Lakhanpal (Barsar), Chaitnaya Sharma (Gagret) and Davinder Bhutto (Kutlehar) for the six Assembly byelections. All six were disqualified under the Anti-Defection law for defying the party whip during the cut motion and passing of the Budget in the Assembly on February 27 and 28.

Fearing dissent, the BJP central leadership had entrusted the task of placating and taking along “unhappy” party leaders and cadres in the six Assembly segments. Senior party leaders, including Leader of the Opposition Jai Ram Thakur, state BJP president Rajeev Bindal, MLAs Randhir Sharma and Bikram Singh accompanied the candidates as they visited their Assembly segments after almost a month.

There was speculation that the BJP may not give ticket to all six Congress rebels, who had joined the party on March 23, but it decided otherwise. The party top leadership anticipated rebellion from leaders like former minister Virender Kanwar (Kutlehar) and Rajesh Thakur (Gagret) and directed the state leaders to handle the obtaining crisis.

The revolt by party leaders against the decision to field all six Congress rebels could damage their electoral prospects. Viernder Kanwar and Rajesh Thakur have been campaigning right since February 29 when the Vidhan Sabha Speaker disqualified the six rebels.

Former MLA Rakesh Kalia, who had joined the BJP in 2022, quit the party when Congress rebel Chaitnaya Sharma joined the BJP last week. Kalia had quit the Congress after he was denied ticket to fight the last Assembly elections.

Former minister Ramesh Dhawala has also expressed his angst on being denied entry into the Dehra (Kangra) Block BJP office for holding a party meeting. He is enraged at the induction of Independent MLA Hoshiyar Singh into the BJP.