Two-time MLA Hoshiyar Singh may find going tough in Dehra
Lalit Mohan
Dharamsala, June 14
The BJP has fielded Hoshiyar Singh for the Dehra Assembly byelection and his supported has started campaigning on his behalf in the constituency. Hoshiyar Singh is at present on vacation abroad and will return on June 18 but his team has already started campaigning.
Opposition from within BJP
- BJP candidate Hoshiyar Singh is likely to face opposition from party cadre in the Dehra Assembly segment
- Already, some BJP leaders in Dehra have raised their voice against the allotment of ticket to Hoshiyar Singh
- Also, there is resentment among people over Hoshiyar Singh’s resignation from the Assembly to join the BJP
- Hoshiyar Singh has a personal vote bank in Dehra as he has been MLA twice but going will be tough for him if there is a direct fight between the Congress and the BJP and not a triangular contest as was the case in 2017 and 2022
He had projected himself as a local leader against “outsiders” fielded by the Congress and the BJP in the recent elections. He has won the Dehra seat twice as an Independent candidate in 2017 and 2022.
Hoshiyar Singh is a businessman from Mumbai, who had his ancestral house at Kharian village in Dehra subdivision of Kangra district.
He fought the 2017 Assembly elections for the first time alleging that both Congress and BJP had ignored the Dehra region by fielding candidates, who did not care about the development of the region. In 2017, the Congress had fielded Viplove Thakur, former Rajya Sabha member, from Dehra while the BJP had fielded Ravinder Ravi, a former minister. Viplove was out of touch with the Dehra region and Ravinder Ravi belonged to Palampur. The BJP fielded Ravinder Ravi from Dehra after his constituency Thural ceased to exist following the delimitation of Assembly constituencies.
The campaign over outsiders and a local leader in Dehra worked for Hoshiyar Singh and he won the 2017 Assembly elections by defeating Viplove Thakur and Ravinder Ravi. When the BJP government was in power from 2017 and 2022, Hoshiyar Singh was close to the then Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur and managed to get development works sanctioned for Dehra. Owing to his proximity to Thakur, Hoshiyar Singh joined the BJP a couple of months before the Assembly electionsin 2022.
However, the BJP opted to field sitting MLA from Jwalamukhi, Ramesh Dhawala from Dehra in 2022 instead of fielding Hoshiyar Singh. Feeling betrayed, Hoshiyar Singh left the BJP and again contested as an Independent candidate and defeated Dhawala of the BJP and Rajesh Sharma of the Congress, who both were labelled as outsiders in Dehra.
In 2024, Hoshiyar Singh resigned as an Independent MLA along with two others and joined the BJP.
Sources say that as the BJP candidate in the Dehra Assembly constituency, the going will not be easy for Hoshiyar Singh. He faces opposition from BJP cadre in the segment. Already, some BJP leaders of Dehra have raised their voice against the allotment of ticket to Hoshiyar Singh. Besides, there is resentment among the people of Dehra over Hoshiyar Singh’s resigning from the Assembly to join the BJP.
Though Hoshiyar Singh has a personal vote bank in Dehra as he has been MLA from the constituency for 10 years, going will be tough for him if there is a direct fight between the Congress and the BJP and not a triangular contest as was the case in 2017 and 2022.
The Congress is yet to decide its candidate but Rajesh Sharma, who had contested on the party ticket in 2022 and finished runner-up securing about 19,000 votes, is the frontrunner.
