BJP, Cong deliberate on candidates for bypolls

Pratibha Chauhan
Tribune News Service
Shimla, June 16

The BJP and the Congress are deliberating on the probable candidates for the byelections to the Mandi Lok Sabha seat and two Assembly segments.

The next Assembly poll are due by the end of 2022. As such, the BJP will work overtime to ensure victory in the byelections while the Congress will also try to wrest the seats to motivate its workers.

The BJP is confident of winning the Mandi Lok Sabha seat, which fell vacant on the demise of MP Ram Swaroop in March this year, but it is not willing to take a chance. The names of IPH Minister Mahender Singh, Education Minister Govind Thakur, Brig Kushal Thakur (retd) and former MP Maheshwar Singh are doing the rounds. The name of Ajay Rana, senior party functionary from Sundernagar, is also under consideration.

There is a long list of probables for the BJP ticket for the Mandi seat that Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur will like to win at all cost.

At the same time, senior Congress leaders are reluctant to fight the byelections. Former IPH Minister Kaul Singh Thakur is the tallest Congress leader in Mandi, but he is reluctant to contest the Lok Sabha bypoll. The name of Pratibha Singh, former MP and wife of Virbhadra Singh, is also doing the rounds though she, too, does not seem to be inclined to contest, especially when her husband is hospitalised for the past over two months.

Ashray Sharma, son of former Telecom Minister Sukh Ram, is keen to contest but he is considered a lightweight, which will make the BJP’s victory much easier. Both parties are banking on voters’ sympathy to win the two Assembly bypoll. Chetan Bragta is the frontrunner for the BJP ticket from Jubbal-Kotkhai, which fell vacant following the death of his father Narinder Bragta. The Congress is all set to field former MLA Rohit Thakur.

In the Fatehpur Assembly seat, the Congress is hoping to cash in on the voters’ sympathy by fielding Bhawani Singh Pathania, son of late MLA Sujan Singh Pathania. In the BJP, Kripal Parmar and Baldev Thakur are in the race for the ticket.

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