Last lap, bigwigs shift focus to Himachal

Pratibha Chauhan

Shimla, May 23

The political climes of the state have started heating up with all senior leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi heading towards Himachal which goes to polls in the last phase on June 1.

While PM Modi will address two election rallies at Nahan and Mandi tomorrow, Amit Shah’s rallies have been scheduled for Amb in Una and Dharamsala in Kangra. The election rallies of the two leaders have been planned in a manner that all four Lok Sabha constituencies in Himachal get covered.

However, great significance is being attached to the rally at Mandi, where Modi will seek support for party candidate and actress Kangana Ranaut. The BJP is keen to get maximum political mileage from Modi’s visit who has a special connect with Himachal, where he remained BJP in-charge for many years.

Interestingly, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge is likely to address an election rally at Rohru, which is a reserved constituency and part of Shimla Lok Sabha (SC) seat.

BJP faces the challenge of retaining all four Lok Sabha seats in the state which it had won in 2014 and 2019 LS polls. It was only in the Mandi by-poll in 2021, held after the demise of sitting BJP MP Ram Swaroop that Congress managed to register victory.

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi will address two rallies at Nahan, which is part of Shimla (reserved) LS seat and Una, part of Hamirpur seat, on May 26. Priyanka Gandhi is also expected to arrive in the hill state on May 27 to address election rallies. In fact, in the absence of her brother Rahul who was on a padyatra, Priyanka had spearheaded the Congress campaign in the 2022 Assembly elections.

“PM Modi has a special bond and connect with Himachal, which he considers his second home. He knows the problems of the state,” says state BJP president Rajeev Bindal. Shah will garner support for Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anuarg Thakur at Amb in Una, which is part of Hamirpur LS seat as he will address two rallies on May 25. He will campaign for BJP’s Rajeev Bhardwaj from Kangra as he will address a rally in Kangra town.

Other BJP leaders, including Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Smriti Irani, J Scindia, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath besides others, will also be arriving here for campaigning.