Virbhadra vs Dhumal, all over again

There are more than 48.10 lakh voters in 12 districts, including the snowy tribal belt of Kinnaur, Lahual-Spiti and Bharmour, part of Mandi.

A bitter battle between Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and BJP predecessor Prem Kumar Dhumal, both trying to get their kin elected to Parliament, and the Narendra Modi factor to aid Dhumal define the polls in Himachal Pradesh.

There are more than 48.10 lakh voters in 12 districts, including the snowy tribal belt of Kinnaur, Lahual-Spiti and Bharmour, part of Mandi.

Virbhadra’s wife is contesting from Mandi and Dhumal’s son from Hamirpur. In 2009, the Congress won Mandi with a slender margin when Virbhadra fought the Lok Sabha poll after falling out of power in the 2007 state polls. Virbhadra resigned as union minister after graft charges were framed against him by a Shimla court.

He led the Congress back to power in the 2012 assembly polls. He was acquitted by the court the day before he took over as chief minister in December 2012.

Virbhadra hit the campaign trial the day after the Lok Sabha elections were announced. The last two days of campaigning saw Congress president Sonia Gandhi addressing a meeting at Kullu and Rahul Gandhi reaching out to voters at Bilaspur and Solan, in Hamirpur.

Anurag Thakur, son of Dhumal, is contesting from Hamirpur against Congress candidate Rajinder Rana. Virbhadra mobilised his resources to campaign in Hamirpur. His son, Youth Congress president Vikramaditya Singh, camped in Hamirpur for 20 days. Yet, it is in Mandi that Virbhadra’s prestige is at stake. He won the seat in 2009 after he quit it to become CM. His wife Pratibha Singh, who won Mandi in the 2013 bypoll, is contesting against the low-profile, RSS-backed Ram Swaroop Sharma.

Dhumal is banking on the Modi factor working for son Anurag, a two-time MP and Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha president. Thakur shot to prominence after he built a world-class cricket stadium at Dharamshala. He later led a BJYM Rashtriya Ekta Yatra to Kashmir. Virbhadra is seeking to prosecute him for land irregularities.

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Congress leaders including Virbhadra and his son have accused Anurag of being busy with cricket business or posing with celebrities on TV channels, and raised questions on his frequent travel to Mumbai, Singapore and Dubai. Anurag has threatened to file a defamation case.

BJP veteran Shanta Kumar, who dominated state politics until Dhumal emerged from his shadows to become chief minister, is contesting from Kangra, a seat he represented as Union Minister in A B Vajpayee government.

The Aam Admi Party’s (AAP’s) is a new presence in the state’s bipolar politics but overall, it is still a resurgent BJP fighting the Congress. Shimla, a reserved (SC) constituency won by the BJP in 2009 for the first time from the Congress, is witnessing a straight battle.

Modi has addressed rallies in Palampur, Mandi, and Solan.