With cricket in the air,Congress bowls bouncers to Dhumal Jr

However,it is this cricket talk that the Youth Congress here is targeting through its ad campaign titled ‘Ye aarop nahi sawal hai’ (These are questions and not accusations). The Youth Congress’s questions for Dhumal Junior start with why non-Himachalis were being promoted in the state Ranji team which has six players from Punjab,Haryana,Delhi and Mumbai,a coach from Jalandhar and a captain from Haryana. “Is it not true that after assuming the post of HPCA president and selection committee chairman,you selected yourself so that you could make Rs 30 lakh annually as travel allowance and dearness allowance by becoming a member of the national selection committee?” goes another one.

But the bouncer comes next: “Is it true that you played just one Ranji match and went for a duck after facing just seven balls”. The last one takes a dig at his claim of making the Dharamsala cricket stadium a reality. “The land was of the government and money of the Board of Cricket Control in India. Maal malka da,mashuri company di,baat Himachal ki,fayada Punjab ka,” it adds.

Interestingly,the cricket talk does not end here. Anurag blames Congress candidate Narinder Thakur for chasing away former cricketer and earlier candidate Madan Lal by throwing eggs and shoes at him. “Look at the level the Congress is stooping to.”

But the Congress candidate denies the charge. “The BJP is on the backfoot as people now know Anurag is using Himachal cricket for personal gains. There was no attack on Madan Lal and some Congress workers had just expressed their resentment against the allocation of a ticket to him,” Narinder adds.

Congress leader Rajender Zar,who has had a stint as BCCI vice-president,has also prepared a list of 28 cricket-related charges against the Dhumal family. Hamirpur Congress spokesperson Deepak Sharma adds another,“The Dhumal family has changed the constitution of the HPCA and out of 38 permanent members with voting rights,18 are from the family.”

But the Dhumal family scion is too assured of victory to worry detractors and even avoids mentioning his opponent in his public speeches. “He is a 50-plus rebel candidate who has lost two elections. In the last 25-30 years of his political career,he doesn’t have a single achievement to his credit,” he remarks,later dismissing Narinder as no competition.

A BJP stronghold — it holds 12 out of the 17 Assembly seats in the constituency—Hamirpur has a total of five candidates in the fray,including one from the BSP and two Independents. However,the contest is between the two Thakurs who have more in common than their surnames. Both are political heirs — Narinder is the son of the late BJP leader Jagdev Chand. While Narinder is a rebel embraced by the Congress,others in his family are still with the BJP—his sister-in-law is a sitting MLA. Though the Congress hopes to swing even BJP votes in its favour by winning over the “forsaken son”,for Himachalis like Hira Lal of Bilaspur loyalty comes first. “Jo apni party aur parivar ka nahi ho woh saka humara kya hoga,” he says,stopping short of calling Narinder a turncoat.

So even if drinking water and proper roads is what concerns the villagers of this constituency,as of now it is cricket and Thakurs that Hamirpur is talking about.