BJP outwits Congress, captures Kangra ZP

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, February 1

The BJP managed to bag the posts of chairman and vice-chairman of the prestigious Kangra Zila Parishad in the elections held today.

Ramesh Brar was elected chairman. He got 30 votes whereas the Congress candidate polled 23 votes. One Zila Parishad member opted for NOTA. For the post of vice-chairman, BJP candidate Snehlata Parmar got 31 votes whereas the Congress candidate got 23 votes.

Interestingly, some Zila Parishad members, who owed allegiance to the BJP even before Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, cross voted in favour of the Congress. When the Chief Minister had visited Dharamsala on January 29, a sizeable 33 members had met him and promised support to the party, sources said.

On January 30 when the elections were scheduled the BJP still had 33 members, but the elections could not be held as the quorum could not be completed. The minimum requirement for the quorum to be complete was 36 members.

To ensure that there was no poaching, the ruling party members had been housed in a hotel in Dharamsala. The sources here said that yesterday the BJP suffered a scare when six members, who were staying in the hotel, went missing.

Even today the BJP that was claiming that it had 26 Zila Parishad members who had fought on party ticket and seven more, who were their affiliate members, could muster the backing of 30 members to get majority for the post of chairman, bringing infighting within the party to the fore.

The Zila Parishad elections in Kangra, politically most significant district of the state, have given a new lease of life to the Congress that was a divided house and leaderless in the region. The party managed to win 19 seats. The Congress leaders from the district came together and tried to make a serious effort to win the post of chairman. The party leaders garnered the support of four Independent members and increase their tally to 23 in the elections for the post of chairman.

The newly elected chairman and vice-chairman of the Zila Parishad were administered the oath of office by Deputy Commissioner, Kangra, Rakesh Prajapati.

New lease of life to Cong

The Zila Parishad elections in Kangra have given a new lease of life to the Congress that was a divided house and leaderless in the region. After winning 19 seats the Congress leaders from the district came together and tried to make a serious effort to win the chairman’s post. They mustered the support of four Independent members and increased their tally to 23 in the elections for the post of chairman.