BJP ramps up Himachal poll campaign with hectic schedules for PM and Amit Shah

Shimla: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is ramping up its poll campaign in Himachal Pradesh with a hectic schedule for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to address rallies in the hill state.

Just hours after the last date of withdrawal of nominations that left the BJP and Congress struggling with rebel candidates, the BJP released the schedule for Prime Minister’s poll rallies from November 5.

Prime Minister Modi’s election rallies will be the biggest factor to make BJP’s mission repeat 2022 successful, according to political observers.

The BJP has given a slogan – Raj nahin riwaaz badlenge ( We will change the custom, not power) to break the trend of an incumbent party never returning to power in the state for a second term.

Fighting elections primarily on the “double-engine government” plank, the BJP seems to reap major gains from PM Modi’s rallies. He has already addressed rallies at Bilaspur, Una and Chamba, beside his roadshows in Shimla and Dharamshala ahead of the polls drawing huge crowds and reaching out to people.

Modi will also be addressing a poll rally at Shahpur on November 9 in Kangra district and will arrive at Sujapur in Hamirpur district to campaign.

Former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal had lost his election from Sunjanpur and missed his Chief Ministerial chance. This time, the BJP had kept him out of the electoral fray though the veteran BJP leader had a desire to avenge his defeat in Sujanpur. The party has fielded a retired army personnel Capt (Rtd) Ranjit Singh to give a befitting fight to Congress MLA Rajendra Rana, who had defeated Dhumal.

The Union home minister will hold six election rallies in the state starting from November 1. He will stay at Shimla and fly to Chamba and Mandi on day one and thereafter hold rallies in the Kasumpti constituency of Shimla.

The BJP has changed the constituency of senior party leader and cabinet minister Suresh Bhardwaj from Shimla (Urban) to Kasumpti—where he is facing a strong challenge from two-time congress MLA Anirudh Singh, an AICC secretary.

With his night-halt at Shimla, where he will hold meetings with top BJP leaders to review the poll campaign, Shah will also fly to HPCA ground at Nadaun in Hamirpur—home district of former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, on November 2

Nadaun is the constituency of three-time Congress MLA Sukhwinder Sukhu,who is also Congress’s Chief Ministerial post aspirant and currently chairman of the party’s campaign committee.

Shah will also campaign in Kangra –the state’s biggest district that holds the key to power for any political party, apart from Nalagarh in Solan.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Aditya Nath will be BJP’s strong trump against the Congress. He will campaign for three days in the districts of Hamirpur, Mandi, Solan, Kangra and Bilaspur.

Even though Himachal Pradesh doesn’t have a significant presence of Muslims except in Sirmaur, Chamba, Shimla and Una districts, Yogi has been in a big demand in the state.

The Congress, on the other hand, is banking on Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, will hold her first poll rally in Mandi—Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur’s home district. She had addressed one rally at Solan on the day when elections were announced.

Through Vadra, the Congress has been trying to invoke late Indira Gandhi and her role in granting statehood to Himachal Pradesh in 1971.Vadra has built a house in Shimla and she too has been trying to strike a chord with the people in her rallies.

The BJP’s challenge remains in minimising the damage by the party rebels –around 21 still in the fray, while the Congress has been quite successful in making six rebels withdraw from the contest. Yet, seven rebels refused to oblige the Congress leaders.

The BJP has changed tickets of 11 sitting MLAs, denied a ticket to one minister and shifted two cabinet ministers to other constituencies. There are 20 new faces in the polls.There are a total of 413 candidates in the fray for 68 seats. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is also trying to test its fortunes in the hills, for the first time though the party’s major focus remains on Gujarat.

Ruling BJP has Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur as its face for the party but the Congress, in the absence of any mass-based leader, has chosen not to name any Chief Ministerial candidate.