Five-time MLA Major Vijai Singh Mankotia switches sides, joins BJP

Pratibha Chauhan

Shimla, October 25

Five-time former MLA Major Vijai Singh Mankotia (retd) joined the BJP at Bilaspur in the presence of national party president JP Nadda today. Having earned the tag of being a ‘turncoat’, he switched sides for the fifth time.

Mankotia’s political career spans over four decades. He had fought elections on the ticket of the Congress, Janta Dal and the BSP. Mankotia (82), a firebrand Rajput leader from Kangra, won his first election as an Independent candidate from Shahpur in Kangra district in 1982.

Mankotia, known for his impulsiveness and sudden outbursts, had been spewing venom at the Congress, hinting that he could switch sides. He had primarily been targeting state Congress president Pratibha Singh. He have had uneasy relations with former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh. However, he was accommodated in Virbhadra Singh’s Cabinet in 1995.

Mankotia has been politically inactive for quite some time and hence may not be able to garner many votes in the favour of the BJP. However, he can certainly keep political temperatures high with his vitriolic utterances targeted at Pratibha Singh.

Mankotia, the then Minister for Tourism, again turned against Virbhadra Singh after he was dropped from Cabinet as part of a downsizing exercise. He unsuccessfully contested the 2007 Assembly elections on BSP ticket and later returned to the Congress fold. He contested the 2012 Assembly elections on Congress ticket and again lost. He was appointed Vice-Chairman of the Himachal Tourism Board.

He contested the 2017 Assembly elections as an Independent candidate after the Congress denied him ticket and fielded Kewal Singh Pathania. There was speculation that he may join the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) but he joined the BJP.