Gaddi leaders meet Himachal CM, seek ticket for Dharamsala bypoll

Tribune News Service

Lalit Mohan

Dharamsala, April 12

Gaddi leaders from the Dharamsala Assembly constituency met CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu last evening and urged him to grant the Congress ticket to a leader of their community for the byelection.

The photos of the meeting posted on social media indicated that some former BJP leaders, including Vipin Nehria, former Scheduled Tribes Morcha president of the BJP for Kangra district, were among those who met the Chief Minister. Nehria had contested the 2022 Assembly elections as an Independent candidate after the BJP gave ticket to Rakesh Chaudhary, an OBC leader from Dharamsala, and secured around 2,000 votes.

The Gaddi leaders have been actively lobbying for the Congress ticket as the BJP has fielded Congress rebel Sudhir Sharma to fight the Dharamsala byelection. The Gaddi community had also held a rally in Dharamsala recently, demanding Congress ticket. They had threatened that their candidate would contest the byelection as an Independent candidate if the Congress ticket was not granted to the community.

The polarisation of the Gaddi community votes in Dharamsala may change the political scenario in the constituency. The Gaddi community has a sizable presence in Dharamsala but no community leader has ever won the elections as an Independent candidate from the constituency. Congress leaders are of the opinion that the grant of ticket to a Gaddi leader can galvanise other communities in favour of the BJP. Other leaders believe that it may also help the Congress candidate as he will get the support of the Gaddi community.

Sources said if the Congress does not give ticket to a Gaddi leader, the community may field an Independent candidate. Besides the Gaddi leaders, OBC leader Rakesh Chaudhary has also sought the Congress ticket. He resigned from the BJP after the party fielded Sudhir Sharma from Dharamsala. Chaudhary had contested the 2022 Assembly elections from the Dharamsala constituency but lost to Sharma. Chaudhary is also banking on the OBC vote bank in the Dharamsala constituency.

It will be a tightrope walk for the Congress to select a candidate that is acceptable to all. If Gaddi and OBC leaders contest the byelection as Independent candidates, there will be a four-corner fight that will affect the strategies and calculations of both Congress and BJP in the Dharamsala constituency.

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