congress-treads-cautiously-in-messy-poll-battlefield-in-himachal

Seemingly caught unawares by strong rebellion during Rajya Sabha poll on February 27 followed by disqualification of the six rebel MLAs, the ruling Congress in Himachal Pradesh has now strategically slowed down in the run up to the Lok Sabha and Assembly by-polls on June 1.

 

The Congress party, which came down from the strength of 40 MLAs to 34 MLAs in state Assembly after the rebellion within 14 months of rule, is taking its own time to get out of the political mess it got embroiled in, with elections to four Lok Sabha seats and by-polls to six Assembly constituencies vacated by rebels in the last phase of Lok Sabha polls in the country.

 

While the BJP has declared its candidates for the Lok Sabha polls and Assembly by-polls in Himachal Pradesh, the Congress party is yet to finalise the names. Party sources said the Congress waited for the BJP names and is now making a last check on the political weight of the Congress leaders, whose names are being considered for Lok Sabha and Assembly by-polls, before final decision.

 

The BJP nominees on the Lok Sabha and Assembly seats have already started moving in the field for the poll campaign. The Lok Sabha nominees of BJP are doing a lot of spade work to stay connected in this long poll campaign with their personal hold as well as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s achievements over ten years. 

 

On the other hand, the Congress rebels contesting on BJP ticket in the Assembly constituencies have seemingly been left defensive in the poll battle as they find it hard to explain as to why they cross voted in Rajya Sabha poll and joined BJP just after their election on Congress ticket 14 months back by defeating BJP nominees.

 

The party is also trying to check rebellion that occurred for Assembly by-polls with the party accommodating all Congress rebels as candidates on six Assembly constituencies for by-poll.

 

However, in Congress, it’s only the Chief Minister, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, who is currently holding rallies at different places, with major attacks on rebels and the BJP for allegedly using money power to grab support.

 

Congress sources said the focus of the CM is more on Assembly by-polls than Lok Sabha so that Congress gains back some numbers to stay stable. For this, before the names of candidates are announced, the CM has tried to snowball the issue of ‘rebels allegedly having taken money from BJP’ in the electoral battlefield, hoping that the literate voters of Himachal Pradesh will consider the ‘unfair tactic’ of BJP and ‘selfish motive’ of rebels when they go to vote. 

 

Sukhu has also been talking about the ‘Old Pension Scheme’ restarted by the Congress government to woo the government job seekers in Himachal, with a contention that, “BJP has stopped it in Rajasthan and they will stop it here also.”

 

The BJP has so far remained quiet on OPS, as it was one of the factors that led to the party’s ouster in 2022 Assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh, with government employees (around 1.5 lakh who have now been benefited by Congress government) making BJP’s opposition to OPS an issue in the elections. 

 

But is certainly taking strong note of the personalised remarks of the Chief Minister against Congress rebel turned BJP candidates in field and has lodged a complaint with the Election Commission alleging violation of model code of conduct by the CM by making derogatory remarks against Congress rebel turned BJP candidate in Kutlehar, Devender Bhutto. 

 

The Chief Electoral Officer has hence sought a report from the District Election Officer on the issue. In Dharamshala, Congress rebel Sudhir Sharma too has approached the Police after the Chief Minister made a personal accusation against him.

 

“The Congress party will make a clean sweep on all the six Assembly constituencies, where the BJP has given tickets to Congress rebels. People of Himachal Pradesh will not forgive the rebels and the BJP for conspiring to destabilise the government, which has been elected for five years, within 14 months. By God’s grace, the attempt failed. The BJP will get a befitting reply from people in the by-polls for this unfair attempt that they made with money power,” said Rohit Thakur, Education minister, Himachal Pradesh.

 

He said the Congress government is fully stable and the BJP will be in ‘coma’ after poll results on 4 June.