New Delhi: There is a rebellion going on inside the Himachal unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party. With elections now less than a month away, ticket distribution in Himachal Pradesh – a state where the difference between victory and defeat is often a few votes – has sparked discontent within the BJP, ThePrint learned. Is.
BJP sources said that in its list announced on October 20, the ruling BJP has changed the assembly seats of two senior ministers, including Suresh Bhardwaj.
Sources said the party has also dropped 11 sitting members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) from its list of candidates for the November 12 elections.
Bharadwaj, four times Has been MLA from Shimla Urban Took place By Sanjay Sood, owner of a tea stall in Shimla – a development that has generated much rancor in his camp, Instead, Bharadwaj will contest from Kasumpti.
“I am not even a voter in Kasumpti,” Bhardwaj told party workers after the seat change. Now BJP workers will decide whether I win or lose but they are unhappy.
Chief Minister Thakur’s home district Mandi and neighboring Kangra district are facing the headwinds of this rebellion. BJP sources say that the party is facing rebellion in 5 out of 10 assembly seats in Kangra and 5-6 out of 10 seats in Mandi.
As a result, many MLAs are now filing nominations to contest as independent candidates, BJP sources said – a development that could hurt the party in the election.
BJP sources said that one of the major reasons for the growing displeasure is the party’s decision to give tickets to the recently joined Congress turncoats. Another thing is that the tickets were given without consulting the lower cadre of the BJP, the sources said.
Former Rajya Sabha MP Kripal Parmar told ThePrint that the reason for the outrage was that the party had given tickets to people with big pockets.,
Parmar, who resigned As Vice President of Himachal BJP in November last year after being denied ticket to contest the assembly by-election from Fatehpur in Kangra, announced Once again not getting the ticket, he will contest the election alone.
,[Forest minister] Corruption charges against Rakesh Pathania [against him] but they were ticketed in my area [Fatehpur], In Nurpur, he has given ticket to another financier.”
By “financier”, Parmar means people with money.
Pathania is the second minister whose assembly seat has been changed.
Elections will be held for the 68-member Himachal Pradesh Assembly Held on 12 November. Counting of votes will take place on December 8.
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critical omission
The most significant omission in the list of this assembly election was former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal.
Sources said Dhumal, whose son Anurag Thakur is a minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet, was keen to contest from Surajpur.
Sources said that though he is yet to react, his supporters are disappointed.
Anurag’s father-in-law Gulab Singh Thakur is also among those who did not give tickets.
Both Dhumal and Gulab Singh lost the 2017 assembly elections.
Meanwhile, the BJP high command has asked Anurag to be present when BJP’s Surajpur candidate Captain Ranjit files his nomination.
Dissident rebels who filed nominations as independent candidates include: Praveen SharmaA BJP leader from Mandi Sadar who was the party’s media in-charge, Nalagarh MLA KL Thakurand Naresh Darji, former vice-president of Hamirpur Zilla Parishad.
From Nalagarh, BJP has fielded Congress rebel LS Rana in place of KL Thakur.
However, the most striking revolt came from the family of Jal Shakti Minister Mahendra Singh Thakur. When his son Rajat Thakur was made the BJP candidate from Dharampur in Solan district in place of his father, his daughter Vandana Guleria, general secretary of the Mahila Morcha, the BJP women’s wing, quit her post and announced that she was contesting as an independent candidate.
Soon after leaving, Guleria said in a Facebook post: ,Can get ticket from Delhi but not vote…. Why is the earring of daughters taken every time in familism? (A candidate can get ticket from Delhi but cannot get votes from there. Why is a daughter sacrificed every time in family politics).
Similarly, the sitting BJP MLAs from Karsog and Darang have Hiralal and Jawahar Thakur. announced Will contest election as an independent. After being denied ticket, Sarkaghat MLA Col Inder Singh has extended his support to BJP rebel Chander Mohan, who has announced that he will contest from the seat as an independent.
The list also includes Abhishek Thakur, son of former BJP minister and six-time MLA Roop Singh Thakur. On Friday, he took out a huge procession after filing his nomination as an independent candidate from Sundernagar.
Revolt in Kangra and Chamba
After Rakesh Pathania was announced as the party’s candidate from Fatehpur instead of Nurpur, former BJP MP Parmar announced that he would contest against him as an independent.
Speaking to ThePrint, Parmar said that the “battle is now between one and the other”. worker (activists) and a financier,”.
“I will not Back Down [my nomination],” he said. “I have given everything to this party but despite making promises they have denied me the ticket.”
There are others like him. In Kangra, the BJP is facing rebellion in one-third of the region’s 15 assembly seats.
After entering the field of BJP Rita Dhiman From Indora – a reserved seat – former MLA Manohar Dhiman decided that he would contest her as an independent.
Similarly, Jawali MLA Arjun Singh has also decided to contest the election on his own.
In Dharamsala, when MLA Vishal Nehria – a leader facing charges last year Atrocity his ias wife – was dropped, his supporters intimidated to resign en masse.
The threat of rebellion in Chamba Compelled BJP is going to change its candidate. Sitting MLA Pawan Nayyar called a meeting of his supporters in protest after the BJP declared Indira Kapoor as its candidate.
Sensing trouble, the BJP quickly backtracked, declaring Nayar’s wife Neelam as its new candidate.
However, party sources told ThePrint that the BJP decided to change its candidate because allegations of corruption Against Kapoor
In August 2021, Kapoor, a former member of the Chamba Zilla Parishad, and several others were sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for embezzlement of grants given for development projects.
That sentence was stayed by the Himachal High Court on October 21.
‘Tickets to Congressmen’
BJP sources said that not only are Congress recruits being given tickets, but the party has also failed to keep its promises.
For example, during the 2017 assembly elections, Manohar Dhiman was promised that he would be given a ticket in the next election. But that never happened. A BJP functionary told ThePrint on condition of anonymity that the party cited anti-incumbency to change minister Suresh Bhardwaj’s seat from Shimla Urban to Kasumpty.
“Bhardwaj is not happy to change his seat” [from a place] where he spent so many years,” the official told ThePrint. “Although the party told him that there was an anti-incumbency wave against him in Shimla urban constituency, no one knows” [what will happen], The last [election], Dhumal was defeated by changing his traditional seat. This time it could be Bharadwaj.
In Nalagarh, former MLA Thakur, who lost the ticket to Congress’s turncoat and sitting MLA LS Rana, said the BJP had overlooked a “loyal worker”.
“I have spent my life in the BJP, but was given a Congress turncoat ticket at the last minute,” he told ThePrint. “It’s now a Religious war – against both Also for party hopper and party purge. ,
A party functionary told ThePrint that while there is an unwritten rule that general secretaries will not contest elections, three – Trilok Kapoor from Palampur, Trilok Jamwal from Bilaspur and Rakesh Jamwal from Sundernagar – are doing so.
“So the rule is being made in favor of a few favourites,” the official said.
To avoid a repeat of the 2021 Kotkhai by-election, when BJP rebel Chetan Bragata defeated the party’s official candidate Neelam Saraik, the BJP high command asked Anurag, BJP’s Himachal in-charge Saudan Singh, to potentially stop Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur. has been deputed for rebellion in the state.
Meanwhile, the BJP high command is taking a direct step – national president J.P.Nadda called on the rebels to work for the party. However, some have refused to pay heed to it till now.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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