All eyes on Kangra party leaders

Lalit Mohan

Dharamsala, July 16

After Khimi Ram, former state president of the BJP, joined the Congress, all eyes are on disgruntled party leaders in Kangra. A senior BJP leader says when they are trying to convince Congress leaders to join the party, there is nothing wrong if BJP leaders join the opposition party.

In Kangra district, BJP leaders from Dehra are sore at Independent MLA Hoshiar Singh joining the party. The local unit of the BJP has been at loggerheads with Hoshiar Singh for the past five years. Now that he has joined the BJP, there is speculation that the BJP may field him from Dehra in the next Assembly elections. This development has upset Ravinder Ravi, former minister considered close to former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal. Ravi was the BJP candidate from Dehra in the last Assembly elections but had lost to Hoshiar Singh.

Sources say that Ravi is now seeking the party ticket from the Jwalamukhi Assembly constituency at present represented by BJP MLA Ramesh Dhawala. If the BJP decides to field Ravi from Jwalamukhi, it will have to shift Dhawala to Dehra. The party, however, cannot ignore Dhawala, who is the tallest OBC leader of Kangra district. Kangra has a significant population of OBCs.

In the Dharamsala Assembly constituency also, many BJP leaders are unhappy with the party, which is planning to field a Congress leader. They have expressed their reservations to the top leadership about Congress leaders joining the party. They say if a Congress leader is fielded, many of them may consider contesting the elections as Independent candidates or join other party.

Naresh Varmani, Former block president of the BJP and former president of the Nagrota Bagwan MC, has joined AAP. In the Nurpur Assembly constituency, former block president of the BJP Ranvir Nikka has raised a banner of revolt against local MLA Rakesh Pathania. In the Fatehpur Assembly constituency, former Rajya Sabha member Kirpal Parmar has been lying low since the party denied him the ticket in the Fatehpur Assembly bypoll.

In the Jawali constituency, the BJP is divided into groups of sitting MLA Arjun Thakur and party leader Sanjay Guleria. Hence, if the party poaches Congress leaders, it, too, may find it difficult to keep its disgruntled leaders.

Resentment galore

• BJP leaders from Dehra sore at Independent MLA Hoshiar Singh joining party
• In Dharamsala constituency, many BJP leaders are unhappy as the party is ‘planning to field a Congress leader’
• In Nurpur area, former block president Ranvir Nikka has raised a banner of revolt against local MLA Rakesh Pathania
• In the Jawali Assembly constituency, the BJP is divided into two groups