Curtains on veterans' career as Young Turks make entry

Lalit Mohan

Dharamsala, December 29

The year 2022 in Himachal was marked by political decisions and politicisation of events and development projects. The year witnessed the end of political career of many veterans while some young leaders like Raghubir Singh Bali, son of former minister GS Bali, and Chaitanya Sharma, 28-year-old Congress candidate from Gagret in Una district, made entry into mainstream politics by being elected as MLAs for the first time.

ELECTION POLITICS

• In the poll year, the BJP govt turned many programmes into political events and announced the opening of several new offices on local leaders’ demand
• The Cong govt, after taking charge, has denotified all govt offices, bringing the entire exercise to a naught

In the election year, the previous BJP government converted many programmes

into political events and announced the opening of several new government offices in different parts on the demand of its local leaders. The new government, after taking charge, has denotified all government offices, bringing the entire exercise to a naught.

The year also saw the political fortunes of many prominent leaders from the state take a hit. BJP Forest Minister Rakesh Pathania lost the election and also his home constituency to arch rival Nikka Pathania, who became a first-time MLA. The BJP leader Sarveen Chaudhary lost the Assembly polls from Shahpur after a span of about 20 years. The BJP lost the Kutlehar segment in Una after 32 years as Minister for Panchayats and Rural Development Varinder Kanwar lost to Congress greenhorn Davinder Kumar.

Curtains came down on the political career of former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal as the party decided against fielding him in the Assembly polls. These elections also marked the end of political career of Thakur Kaul Singh, who is in his late seventies, from Mandi district as he lost to BJP candidate. The political gamble of BJP strongman Mohinder Singh Thakur from the Dharampur constituency in Mandi district to field his son in his place failed. His son Rajat Thakur lost to Chander Shekhar of the Congress.

The previous BJP government organised “Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav” programme, in which ex-CM Jai Ram Thakur held 75 rallies across the state. During the rallies, the government made political announcements aimed at improving party prospects in the state Assembly polls held in November.

Among the major announcements made by the previous BJP government in the year 2022 was notifying police district in Nurpur subdivision of Kangra. The announcement was made after hectic lobbying by Forest Minister Rakesh Pathania, who was representing the Nurpur constituency. Ironically, the BJP shifted Rakesh Pathania from Nurpur to Fatehpur during the elections. His arch rival, Ranvir Nikka, who contested from Nurpur, reaped the benefit of the government announcements and won the election with a thumping majority.

The Congress, the main opposition party in the state, blamed the state government for utilising public funds for political rallies. However, all events failed to yield results and the state kept up its tradition of changing governments after every five years.