With less than a month left for the Himachal Pradesh elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress are confused about finalizing the candidates as both the parties await each other’s final list.
With the high-stakes battle looming, both the parties fear a crossover of several leaders if the nominations are denied. Both the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress are going strong on names, delaying the finalization of tickets.
There is a strong buzz that the BJP is looking at pushing new faces and thus denying tickets to some ministers and MLAs to counter any anti-incumbency wave. According to the opposition, this could spark an exodus of disgruntled leaders from the BJP. “Some of them have a good influence among the voters. If BJP chooses to ignore him, then what’s the harm in getting him on board?” A senior Congress leader said.
The Congress high command has reportedly approved a list of 45 for the 68 assembly constituencies, but has not made it official. In the remaining around 20 seats, the party is facing “pulling and pressure” from different lobbies. The Congress is also waiting for the BJP to blink first to announce the list and gauge the extent of the rebellion. “We can gamble on those disgruntled BJP leaders who have not been given tickets,” said a leader.
Party insiders say the high command was keeping an eye on those areas, especially in the Kangra region where it feels there is discontent among some senior BJP leaders who may be denied nominations. Congress is planning to adopt a similar policy in some other areas where it does not have strong leaders and may bet on disgruntled BJP leaders.
The decision on finalization of tickets for some of these seats has been kept pending.
The BJP has also not announced the list of its candidates yet. Although some senior Congress leaders have recently joined the saffron party, it is expected that after the release of the list, more such rebels will come. “We cannot bring these disgruntled leaders on board, but by projecting them as independents, Congress votes can be cut down drastically,” a senior party leader revealed.
But as far as the recent arrival of disgruntled Congress leaders is concerned, the BJP is also facing a lot of problems. There is uneasiness within the party that these leaders can be given tickets at the cost of old-timers in the BJP. “Finalizing the ticket is going to be difficult. The strategy is definitely to wait and see for us as well,” the leader admitted.
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