BJP, Cong raise poll pitch in Kangra

Ravinder Sood

PALAMPUR, January 28

Though the Assembly elections are due in December this year, the BJP and the Congress are gearing up to win the maximum number of seats.

Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh has declared Dharamsala the second capital of the state with an aim to wooing voters. Besides, he has also announced sub-division status for Dheera, Nagrota Bagwan, Shahpur, Indora and Fatehpur.

The Chief Minister spent most of January in Kangra during his winter sojourn and addressed over 100 public meetings. His next schedule to visit Kangra is in the first week of February when he will address over 50 public meetings.

Likewise senior leader of the BJP and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also visited Kangra this month and addressed a BJP convention at Shahpur. He asked party workers to be ready for the elections. BJP president Amit Shah is likely to visit Kangra in the end of February to address a meeting of grassroot workers of the BJP.

Former Chief Minister PK Dhumal is already on the wheels. He is preparing party workers for the elections. Shanta Kumar has also convened a meeting of panchayat pradhans and members of Palampur region on February 9 and 10 to seek their support in the elections.

Union Health Minister JP Nadda will also visit Kangra in the mid-February to step up BJP campaign.

Both parties have realised that without the support of Kangra, they cannot rule the state. It is a hard fact that for power, political battle will again be fought in Kangra district, which contains almost one-fourth of the state population with 15 of the 68 Assembly segments.

It is the history of the state that whichever party has won a majority seats in this district, it has formed the government.

For the first time in 1990 when the BJP formed the government led by Shanta Kumar, the party won 13 of the 16 segments from Kangra district. In 1993, when the Congress was voted to power, again the district played a major role by sending 12 Congress MLAs to the Assembly.

In the 1998 elections when Prem Kumar Dhumal took over the reigns of the state, 11 BJP candidates made it to the state Assembly from Kangra district, paving the way for the formation of the BJP government in Shimla.

Even in the 2007 Assembly elections, the BJP secured 11 seats from Kangra and Dhumal formed government in Shimla. In 2012, the Congress got 11 seats.

However, the residents of this largest district are disappointed that despite having 15 seats, it lacks leadership. It could produce only one Chief Minister Shanta Kumar. The Congress remained a divided house on the issue of leadership from Kangra and the district suffered in development matters.

Whatever may be the election results, there will not be any Congress or BJP Chief Minister from Kangra district. If BJP project Dhumal as chief ministerial candidates, he hails from Hamirpur district. The chief ministerial candidates of the Congress are most likely from upper Himachal.

Even in past, Congress Chief Ministers have come from old Himachal, either from Shimla (Virbhadra Singh and Ram Lal Thakur) or from Sirmaur district Dr YS Parmar.