In poll mode, Congress, BJP look to field women from Himachal's 4 Lok Sabha seats

Pratibha Chauhan

Shimla, February 11

The Congress and the BJP are in the process of shortlisting candidates for the four Lok Sabha seats in the state. Both parties are reportedly keen to field women candidates.

Jai Ram may contest from Mandi

• The BJP is all set to field Anurag Thakur, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, from Hamirpur and may field former Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur from Mandi
• There is suspense over Pratibha Singh contesting the Lok Sabha poll, as the Congress may field her son and Public Works Department Minister Vikramaditya Singh from Mandi
• There is a possibility that the BJP may drop sitting Shimla MP Suresh Kashyap and field Pachhad MLA Reena Kashyap or some other candidate

The Congress has already invited applications from ticket aspirants by February 15 for the four parliamentary seats (Shimla, Kangra, Hamirpur and Mandi) so that it can shortlist the names and forward the list to the top leadership. The Congress, which at present has only one Lok Sabha seat (Pratibha Singh is the Mandi MP), is keen to increase its tally. Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has already discussed the names of probable candidates with the central party leadership in New Delhi.

On the other hand, the BJP, which had won all four Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 parliamentary poll, is keen to repeat the feat. The BJP had lost the Mandi seat to the Congress in the byelections necessitated due to the demise of its MP Ram Swaroop. Pratibha, wife of former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, had defeated BJP candidate Brig Khushal Thakur (retd) by a slender margin. Pratibha’ victory in the byelection was attributed to sympathy generated following the demise of six-time Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.

While the BJP is all set to field Anurag Thakur, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, from Hamirpur, it is weighing its options on other three seats. The BJP will finalise its candidates based on the reports of the survey held to assess the winnability of the probable candidates. Moreover, BJP national president JP Nadda, who belongs to Bilaspur, will have a big say in the selection of candidates.

The possibility of the BJP fielding former Chief Minister and Leader of the Opposition Jai Ram Thakur from Mandi cannot be ruled out. Besides, the party is also considering the name of Kargil War hero Brig Khushal Thakur (retd) from the seat.

There is a possibility that the BJP may drop sitting Shimla MP Suresh Kashyap, who also remained state party president, to field Pachhad MLA Reena Kashyap or some other candidate. Shimla is considered a Congress bastion, so the BJP will not take any chances and will field a strong candidate. There is also speculation that the BJP may change sitting Kanga MP Kishan Kapoor. The names of sitting Sullah MLA Vipin Singh Parmar, Kangra MLA Pawan Kajal and even Harsh Mahajan, who had defected from the Congress, are doing the rounds from the Kangra seat.

The suspense over Pratibha contesting the Lok Sabha poll remains, as the Congress may field her son and Public Works Department Minister Vikramaditya Singh from Mandi. Both Pratibha and Vikramaditya will be formidable candidates against the BJP.

There is also speculation that the Congress is considering the names of Rohru MLA Mohan Lal Brakta, Deputy Speaker Vinay Kumar (Renuka ji MLA) and Kasauli MLA Vinod Sultanpuri from the Shimla (reserved) seat. From Kangra, the Congress may field Nagrota Bagwan MLA RS Bali or Dharamsala MLA Sudhir Sharma or former minister Asha Kumari, who had lost the 2022 Assembly election from Dalhousie in Chamba.

From Hamirpur, the Congress may field its sitting Barsar MLA Inder Dutt Lakhanpal or former Una MLA Satpal Raizada, who is a close confidant of the Chief Minister.