Kusumpti: An entrenched royal, a 4-poll losing streak, and BJP’s bet on parachute candidate

The seat has eluded the BJP in the last four Assembly elections. Last time a BJP candidate won from Kusumpti was in 1998 when Roop Dass Kashyap snagged the seat from Congress’s Charanjiv Lal Kashyap.

This time, the BJP has fielded Urban Development Minister and four-time MLA Suresh Bharadwaj from Kusumpti. The decision to field Bharadwaj from Kusumpti, instead of his traditional seat Shimla Urban, had come as a surprise for the minister as well as the party cadres. Though Kasumpti is part of Shimla, Bharadwaj is in for a challenge as he takes on sitting Congress MLA Anirudh Singh, who has been representing the seat since 2012.

The seat was dominated by the Kashyap community from 1967 to 1998. In 2003, an Independent candidate, Sohan Lal, won the elections and later joined Congress. Sohan Lal again won from the seat in 2007 on Congress ticket. The Congress, in 2012, gave the ticket to Anirudh Singh, who hails from a royal family.

Earlier, after the party changed his seat, Bharadwaj was caught off guard. “The high command can do as it wills and if the party workers want that the decision be changed, then they should convey it,” he had remarked upon coming to know that he is being fielded from Kusumpti.

Now, the BJP leader is being viewed as a parachute candidate and an expendable leader who has been given a tough fight on purpose. “There must be a reason for changing his seat. Everyone knows that Anirudh Singh is popular here and it will be a difficult for anyone to establish ground in such less time. No one knows Bharadwaj here and people go to Anirudh Singh for local issues,” said Ajay Kumar, a resident.

The BJP has been on shifting ground in the constituency having fielded different candidates in the last three Assembly elections. In 2017, of the total 22,000 votes polled, Anirudh Singh had secured more than 9,000. Anirudh Singh’s family has roots in apple farming and the constituency has a large population of apple growers.

“Several people from the region participated in the apple protest. The (BJP) government has completely ignored the apple farmers. We have been trying to tell everyone that we are not getting the rates we should be getting. There is a huge anger against the government,” says Kishore Thakur, an apple farmer.

Besides farmers, the area is also home to a large chunk of government employees for whom BJP’s non committal stand on old pension scheme will be a key voting factor. “The government has no vision on employment. Currently, many employees are working as per corporate rules despite being in government sector. They can be laid off anytime. Then there is the issue of pension. People who have been working for years are getting one-sixth of what they should be getting. In Himachal, the employees have a lot of unity and they (BJP) must realise it,” said Vinod Sharma, a government employee.

The Congress party has announced that it will implement old pension scheme if voted to power.

BJP national president JP Nadda included Kusumpti in his campaign trail and canvassed for Bharadwaj.

The Congress party presently has 5 seats out of 8 in Shimla and Kasumpti will be a key contest in the polls.