BJP drops 12 MLAs in major shake-up for Himachal polls

Shimla: The ruling BJP has denied tickets to 11 sitting MLAs, dropped one minister from the contest, changed constituencies of two and embraced two outsiders in a major overhaul of its strategy for the forthcoming Himachal Pradesh assembly elections.

The party will field 23 new faces, including Rajat Thakur, son of senior cabinet minister Mohinder Singh, a neurosurgeon Dr Janak Raj and a woman, Indira Kapoor. The BJP has declared a list of 62 candidates, six short of the total strength of the House.

Contrary to its public stand, the party has surprised the Congress, its main opponent, by giving tickets to sons of two former ministers and one sitting cabinet minister, apart from bringing back the son of former telecom minister Pandit Sukh Ram.

Chetan Bragta, son of former horticulture minister and a loyalist of former CM Prem Kumar Dhumal, was denied a ticket in 2021 by-election as part of the BJP’s policy not to field sons and daughters of party leaders. But, he has been chosen to contest from Jubbal-Kotkhai, his father’s stronghold currently represented by Rohit Thakur, grandson of former Chief Minister Thakur Ram Lal.

The central election committee of the party which held its meeting in New Delhi, also attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP national President J P Nadda and Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, decided to drop 11 sitting MLAs.

Senior party leader and minister for urban Development and law Suresh Bhardwaj has been told to shift to Kasumpti instead of Shimla (urban), his stronghold since 1990.

Bhardwaj had served as state BJP president and also Rajya Sabha member, besides being one of the top-ranking BJP politicians since the emergency days.

Forest minister Rakesh Pathania is another casualty in the BJP’ s dissection as he has been refused a ticket from Nurpur. He will be a candidate from Fatehpur –a Congress stronghold in Kangra district.

Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, who is also party’s Chief Ministerial face, will be contesting from his Seraj constituency. He is a five-time MLA from the constituency in Mandi.

Two congress MLAs – Pawan Kajal, PCC working president, who had joined the BJP sometime back along with Lakhwinder Rana, MLA from Nalagarh, have been rewarded with tickets.

Three BJP general secretaries – Trilok Jamwal, Trilok Kapoor and Rakesh Jamwal have been fielded from Bilaspur, Palampur and Sundernagar respectively.

Bilaspur is home town of BJP national president J P Nadda and only this month Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched projects worth Rs 3650 crore including the Rs 1470 crore AIIMS.

No decision has been taken on Kullu—where BJP veteran Maheshwar Singh, a former MP, has staked his claim. Another seat for which the party could not decide on a candidate is Haroli – constituency of Mukesh Agnihotri, leader of opposition.

Another highlight of the tickets is fielding of an ex-serviceman Capt (Rtd) Ranjeet Singh from Sujanpur assembly constituency where former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal contested.

Dhumal had a desire to contest again and avenge his defeat of 2017, which had deprived him of his Chief Ministerial chance but only yesterday he announced that he was retiring from electoral politics and playing his role as “Margdarshak” (guide) .

Insiders say he was asked to do so as his presence could have led to factionalism in the party and a threat to Jai Ram Thakur.

The Congress has already released a list of 46 candidates.