Delay in the choice of candidates by the Congress party for the ensuing Lok Sabha and Assembly by-polls has left the party cadres confused in Himachal Pradesh, especially as the BJP was quick to field the candidates fast on four Lok Sabha seats and six Assembly seats.
The Congress has so far declared candidates for Mandi (Vikramaditya Singh) and Shimla (Vinod Sultanpuri) Lok Sabha seats, who have started holding meetings of party men to chalk out poll strategy in their Parliamentary constituencies.
However, in Kangra and Hamirpur, the ruling party is still in the midst of discussions on the probable nominees. In Hamirpur, where Congress is facing a fordable challenge from Union Minister and four times MP in a row, Anurag Thakur.
The Congress high command has so far not agreed to the candidature of former MLA from Una, Satpal Raizada, whose name was pushed by Chief Minister, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and the Pradesh Congress Committee.
The high command considered the name of Deputy CM, Mukesh Agnihotri’s daughter, Aastha Agnihotri to contest from Hamirpur, but the move fizzled out as Aastha did not agree to contest, citing that she was not in a position to fight the election at the moment as just over two months back, her mother passed away.
On Kangra Lok Sabha seat, where BJP has fielded a new face, Rajeev Bhardwaj, a section of Congress wants former minister, Asha Kumari to contest the election, the Chief Minister wants a new face. In all the four Lok Sabha constituencies, the BJP candidates have covered much ground in the run-up to poll on June 1, with even Union Minister, Anurag Thakur, who is on a good wicket, moving in the field over the last month, raising all the issues relevant to his area and the national level for Lok Sabha polls.
For six Assembly by-polls, which are also slated for June 1 in Himachal Pradesh, the BJP quickly decided to field Congress rebels- Rajender Rana in Sujanpur, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal in Badsar, Chaitanya Sharma in Gagret, Devender Bhutto in Kutlehar, Sudhir Sharma in Dharamshala and Ravi Thakur in Lahaul & Spiti.
In all the six constituencies, the Congress is still undecided, as in the absence of the disqualified MLAs, who are now BJP candidates, there is a beeline for tickets in Congress and that’s spoiling the show for the time being.
Congress sources said a section in the party is ready to accommodate the sulking BJP men, who are potential candidates but were ignored for tickets by BJP in some constituencies, but the dominant camp headed by the Chief Minister conflicts with this strategy.
It’s only in Gagret, that the name of former Congress MLA, Rakesh Kalia, who joined BJP before the 2022 Assembly poll only to leave it after a recent Congress rebellion, is doing the rounds for the Assembly by-poll. Kalia was believed to be a supporter of former minister Vidya Stokes in the Congress party, the camp to which CM Sukhu also belonged all these years.
“The party high command had to finalise some candidates in a meeting today, but it has been postponed for next week. The delay is not good, but the Congress wants to work out the best strategy, keeping in view the dipping popularity of BJP across the country,” said a senior Congress leader.
Some Congress leaders believe that so much struggle to pick candidates for the Lok Sabha seats and the Assembly by-polls does not augur well for the Congress party as the candidates would now be left with less time (compared to BJP) for the poll campaign. “It’s difficult to work in the electoral battlefield without candidates. So we are losing that time,” he said.
Yet, Chief Minister, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, who is considering the crucial time as an opportunity to expand his base of loyalists in Congress, is confident that the people of Himachal Pradesh will vote and support Congress candidates in the ensuing polls as they have realized the BJP’s motive to grab power unethically in Himachal Pradesh even though people had elected the Congress government for five years.
“The people know that the Congress party is working for their welfare in Himachal Pradesh and they will vote for Congress in these elections,” he said.
Sukhu said the party rebels, who won the election on a Congress ticket in 2022 and are now BJP candidates in a by-poll, will not get the support of the people as everyone knew why they switched sides so fast.
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