Kutlehar MLA another contender for ministerial berth

Rajesh Sharma

Una, December 25

After the BJP high command declared Jai Ram Thakur as the Chief Minister-designate, the people of the Hamirpur parliamentary segment and Una district are now hoping for a ministerial berth.

Virender Kanwar from Kutlehar in Una district has emerged as the senior-most BJP MLA in the parliamentary segment area.

The Hamirpur parliamentary segment is one of the four Lok Sabha segments in the state. It comprises 16 Assembly segments — five each from Una and Hamirpur districts, four from Bilaspur district and two of the 15 segments from Kangra district, namely Dehra and Jaswan-Paragpur.

In the Hamirpur parliamentary segment, the BJP has won nine seats, the Congress six and one has gone to an independent candidate. In Hamirpur district, BJP candidates Kamlesh Kumari and Narender Thakur emerged winners from the Bhoranj and Hamirpur segments, respectively. JR Katwal, Rajinder Garg and Subhash Thakur won the Jhanduta, Ghumarwin and Bilaspur seats, respectively, in Bilaspur district.

In Una district, the three BJP winners are Virender Kanwar, Balbir Chaudhary and Rajesh Thakur from Kutlehar, Chintpurni and Gagret, respectively. Of the two Assembly segments from Kangra district, BJP’s Bikram Singh won the Jaswan-Paragpur seat.

Five of the nine BJP candidates in the Hamirpur parliamentary segment are first-time winners. They are Kamlesh Kumari from Bhoranj, Rajesh Thakur from Gagret, JR Katwal from Jhanduta, Rajinder Garg from Ghumarwin and Subhash Thakur from Bilaspur. Narender Thakur from Hamirpur and Balbir Chaudhary from Chintpurni have won for the second time.

Bikram Singh from Jaswan-Paragpur has emerged victorious for the third time, with a five-year gap in between, while Virender Kanwar from Kutlehar has won for the fourth consecutive time. Kanwar’s supporters are hoping for a ministerial berth for him.

Kutlehar BJP president Manohar Lal said Kanwar was one of the senior-most leaders.

Ever since the first Assembly elections in the state in 1967, Kutlehar has been given the portfolio of Vidhan Sabha Deputy Speaker twice. Congress MLA Ram Nath Sharma was the Deputy Speaker from 1989 to 1990, while BJP’s Ram Dass Malangar occupied the chair from 1999 to 2003.