Mankotia not in fray, direct Congress, BJP face-off in Shahpur

Lalit Mohan

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Political equations have changed in the Shahpur Assembly constituency of Kangra district after former Congress minister Major Vijai Singh Mankotia (retd) joined the BJP recently. He is not fighting elections this time, which may benefit the Congress candidate. Hence, there will be a direct contest between the Congress and the BJP in the constituency.

Mankotia had fought Assembly elections in 2012 and 2017 from Shahpur as an Independent candidate but lost to BJP candidate Sarveen Chaudhary both times. Congress candidate Kewal Singh Pathania had finished third. In fact, Pathania and Mankotia, a Congress rebel, had got more votes together than Sarveen Chaudhary but the division of votes hurt the Congress.

Now, Mankotia is expected to get his supporters to vote for Sarveen Chaudhary. Mankotia’s supporters had on social media strongly resented his decision to join the BJP. Onkar Thakur, who had contested the 2017 elections on BSP ticket from Shahpur with Mankotia’s support, is openly campaigning for the Congress candidate.

Mankotia may find it difficult to seek votes for Sarveen Chaudhary, as in the past five years, he had levelled allegations of corruption in land deals against her. He had even written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to seek action against her. Sarveen had also levelled serious allegations against Mankotia.

The BJP may be thinking of cashing in on Mankotia’s ex-servicemen vote bank in Kangra, as he had been the chairman of the Ex-servicemen League of Himachal for a long time. However, he had openly criticised the Union Government over the Agnipath scheme launched for recruitment in defence forces.

Mankotia was a minister in the Congress government in 2003. However, owing to his differences with former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, he left the Congress and joined the BSP in 2007. He became the BSP state president and unsuccessfully contested the 2007 Assembly elections on the party ticket from Dharamsala. He later left the BSP. He contested the 2012 and 2017 elections from Shahpur as an Independent candidate.