Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumals surprise trip to Palampur for a closed-door meeting with veteran BJP leader Shanta Kumar last week has left local BJP leaders guessing on the outcome of the parleys,held apparently at the instance of top party leadership in Delhi. Shanta Kumar,currently BJPs national vice-president and in charge of party affairs in Punjab,had been feeling marginalised in the states affairs for past some time. He is understood to have withdrawn himself from a lot of happenings in the state,including the functioning of the BJP government. However,after BJPs poor show in urban local bodies polls held first time on party symbols and also panchayat elections,Dhumal reportedly felt the need to make amends ahead of the 2012 Assembly polls. After his meeting with senior leaders in New Delhi last week,Dhumal flew straight to Palampur,the hometown of Shanta Kumar in Kangra district. We are not actually aware of the details of the meeting as it was quite a sudden move on part of the chief minister. But this could definitely be related to strengthening of the party and also the impending Cabinet expansion, says a party MLA who did not wish to be named. Reports say pressure is mounting from within the party to change state BJP president Khimi Ram,who was appointed only at the behest of the chief minister after lack of consensus on a single name. Shanta Kumar had supported J P Nadda,then a Cabinet minister,but Dhumal favoured Khimi Ram who had earlier resigned as deputy speaker to temporally take the party command before the organisational polls. The Shanta Kumar faction says an agreement was reached in Delhi that the issue of president could be reopened after six months of Khimi Rams tenure. As a prelude to the Cabinet expansion,Dhumal is now exploring the possibilities of giving Khimi Ram a ministerial berth. In his place,the name of sitting MLA Randhir Sharma has been proposed. This,however,has not found favour with the rival camps. With some projecting Rohru MLA Khushi Ram Balnatah as the new party chief,Dhumals meeting with Shanta Kumar is seen as a first step to the process of consultations ahead of the upcoming changes in the party and also filling up of the Cabinet berth vacated by J P Nadda last year.
