BJP yet to reach out to rebels, dissidents in Mandi

Abhinav Vashisht

Kullu, April 1

The BJP is yet to reach out to party rebels in the Mandi parliamentary constituency, who had fought the 2022 Assembly elections as Independent candidates after they were denied ticket, to bring them around and control possible damage. The rebels have come on one platform and held a meeting recently to decide the future course of action with regard to the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. They lamented that the state BJP leadership was embracing Congress leaders but those who had given their entire life to the party were being ignored.

Cong takes steps to control damage

• The BJP rebels have come on one platform and held a meeting recently to decide the future course of action with regard to the upcoming Lok Sabha elections
• Congress in-charge for Himachal Rajeev Shukla has recommended the revocation of the suspension of Paras Ram from the Anni seat in Mandi and former Sullah MLA Jagjiwan Paul in Kangra
• Both had fought the 2022 Assembly elections as Independent candidates

Six BJP rebels and two party dissidents had complained that the party had ignored them. Disgruntled leaders, namely former Darang MLA Jawahar Thakur and former Sarkaghat MLA Col Inder Singh, and rebels, namely former Anni MLA Kishori Lal Sagar, former Kinnaur MLA Tejwant Negi, former state BJP general secretary Ram Singh, Abhishek Thakur, son of former minister Roop Singh Thakur, Praveen Kumar Sharma and former Mandi MP Maheshwar Singh’s son Hiteshwar Singh, had created political heat by attending the meeting.

The six rebels, who had fought as Independent candidates, had secured a total of 61,146 votes. BJP candidates Jawahar Thakur from Darang and Col Inder Singh from Sarkaghat had won the 2017 Assembly elections by securing 31,392 and 30,705 votes, respectively. However, both were denied ticket in the 2022 elections.

Former Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur has set out on the task of damage control after some leaders expressed displeasure over being ignored in the allocation of ticket from Mandi and fielding of Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut. The Leader of the Opposition had recently met former MP Maheshwar Singh at his residence in Kullu and also met Brig Khushal Thakur (retd) on Saturday, who was the BJP candidate in the 2021 Lok Sabha byelection. There was still no clarity on the BJP’s stance on the rebels.

Brig Khushal Thakur had lost the election to Congress candidate Pratibha Singh by a margin of 7,490 votes. Some representatives of the Ex-servicemen League had recently expressed resentment over the party’s decision. However, the Kargil war hero had said that he fully supported the party’s decision to field Kangana. Maheshwar Singh had also expressed displeasure after his claim on the ticket was ignored. Maheshwar had also not participated in the recent BJP’s rally in Mandi in support of Kangana.

Paras Ram had secured 17,355 votes while Congress candidate Bansi Lal got 14,224 votes. Jagjiwan Paul had garnered 29,558 votes polled while Congress candidate Jagdish Chand Sapehia had got only 6,828 votes.

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