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Journalism of Courage
Once a rival of former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh in the Congress, Major (retired) Vijay Singh Mankotia joined the BJP in the presence of the ruling party’s national president JP Nadda in Bilaspur on Tuesday. Former All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary Rakesh Kalia, the ex-MLA from Chintpurni, also joined the ruling party, but in Gagret constituency in Kangra district in the presence of the BJP’s central leader in charge of the state.
But, these latest additions failed to paper over the BJP’s troubles as the party continued to face internal rebellion over its ticket allocation strategy. On Tuesday, the last date for filing nominations, the party replaced its former state unit chief Maheshwar Singh as its Kullu Sadar candidate. Singh went on to file his nomination as an Independent and claimed that he was replaced after he failed to convince his son Hiteshwar to withdraw from the electoral contest in Banjar constituency.
He was not the only BJP leader to submit his nomination as an Independent. State BJP vice-president Ram Singh also filed his papers as an Independent candidate from Kullu Sadar and so did two BJP leaders from Dharamshala.
Maheshwar Singh, a member of the erstwhile princely state of Kullu, called a meeting of his supporters in Bhuntar to chalk out a strategy after the cancellation of his poll ticket. Singh said he was allotted a ticket but the party did not give him the “B” form based on which candidates receive the party symbol. The former state BJP chief said he waited till 2 pm for the form but was left hanging. After that, he filed his nomination as an Independent. The BJP has replaced Singh with Narottam Thakur, a schoolteacher.
He alleged that the party had been using his nomination to bargain and get his son to withdraw from the contest in Banjar. “My son wanted to contest from Banjar but he did not heed my advice. How can I force him to withdraw?”
The BJP leader said he had asked JP Nadda why he was given the ticket if “you had to do this with me”. Singh said that he made it clear to Nadda and Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur that he would wait till October 27, the date of nomination scrutiny, for the party to reverse its decision and give him the B form. If it happens, Singh said he would contest as a BJP candidate. “Otherwise, I will decide on my own,” the former Himachal BJP chief said, adding that he would not allow himself to be blackmailed.
Meanwhile, BJP’s Scheduled Tribe (ST) Morcha vice-president Vipin Naihariya and Dharamshala unit in-charge Anil Choudhry filed as Independents from Dharamshala constituency after the party fielded Rakesh Chaudhary who belongs to an Other Backward Classes (OBC) community. Dharamshala has a sizeable OBC population. Incumbent MLA Vishal Naihariya, who was not fielded either, has backed Chaudhary. Vipin is a leader of the Gaddi community and his decision is likely to result in the BJP’s votes eroding.
Both Vipin Naihariya and Anil Choudhry said that they were under obligation to their supporters to fight the polls. Vipin claimed that all the office-bearers of the BJP’s Dharamshala Mandal had put in their papers in protest against the party giving the ticket to Chaudhary.
The party has cancelled the tickets of 11 sitting MLAs while introducing fresh faces. This has irked several workers who were eyeing the tickets and are opting for independent candidatures at the risk of a split in votes. The ruling earlier announced a suspension of six years from the party for fighting independent elections.
Nomination data
More than 346 candidates filed their nomination papers on Tuesday for the Assembly polls scheduled to be held on November 12, according to a state election department spokesperson. Eighty-one candidates filed their papers in Mandi district, followed by 72 in Kangra, 34 in Chamba, 35 in Sirmour, 29 in Shimla, 26 in Hamirpur, 23 each in Solan and Bilaspur, 19 in Kullu, three in Kinnaur and one in Lahaul-Spiti. With this, the number of candidates who have filed their nomination for the 68 Assembly seats has crossed 600.
In Shimla district, former Congress MLA Subhash Manglate filed his nomination as an Independent from Chaupal. The Opposition party has fielded its general secretary Rajneesh Kimta, a close aide of party state in-charge Rajeev Shukla, from the constituency.
Former Speaker and Congress rebel Gangu Ram Musafir filed his nomination as an Independent from Pachhad in Sirmaur district. He lost the 2017 Assembly elections and a by-election two years later.
— With PTI inputs
