Nalagarh bypoll: Congress’s planned campaign proving to be more effective

Ambika Sharma

Solan, July 7

Even as the BJP has stationed a posse of nearly 125 leaders to oversee campaigning for the Nalagarh byelection, the systematic campaign of the Congress seems to be proving more effective in the Nalagarh bypoll.

The saffron party has been trying to use the outsider tag for Congress Hardeep Bawa. But it faced uneasy questions from the electorate who were questioning BJP candidate KL Thakur’s resignation as an Independent when he was chosen for a five-year term.

Congress candidate Hardeep Bawa is seeking votes on the plea of being given one chance to represent the constituency as against BJP’s KL Thakur who has won two elections, once on the BJP ticket and later as an Independent.

BJP’s problems

• The BJP’s posse of leaders having a considerable experience have made no efforts to placate Harpreet Saini, an office-bearer of the party’s youth wing.
• With the voters of Himachal having rejected party-hoppers in the recent byelection, it remains to be seen if Thakur will get another chance .

Several senior leaders have been appointed by the BJP in Nalagarh to work for party candidate’s victory. MLA Sukhram Chawdhary has been appointed as the in-charge while Rajya Sabha MP Sikander Kumar is the convenor with Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur being among the star campaigners.

Besides, services of former and present MLAs, as well as former ministers including former union minister Anurag Thakur, have been pressed into the campaign to woo voters.

The presence of too many leaders, however, is proving to be a disadvantage as it has exposed factionalism within the Opposition BJP. Those having little experience of electoral politics have been handling the campaign.

The BJP’s bunch of leaders having a considerable experience of contesting elections, however, made no efforts to placate Hardeep Saini, an office-bearer of the party’s youth wing, when he filed his nomination as an independent candidate.

Hardeep was also gaining support from the Changer area which could harm the poll prospects of the BJP.

The saffron party has been trying to use the outsider tag for Congress Hardeep Bawa. But it faced uneasy questions from the electorate who were questioning BJP candidate KL Thakur’s resignation as an Independent when he was chosen for a five-year term.

With the voters of Himachal having rejected party-hoppers in the recent byelection, it remains to be seen if the voters from Nalagarh will give another chance to Thakur. He was harping on the issue of lack of development in the constituency and closure of offices of the health, education and revenue departments.

In the Congress camp, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri and several Cabinet ministers have been campaigning for Bawa where they used the rhetoric of the BJP candidate having compromised with the people’s verdict for his personal gains.