Ruling Congress is eyeing its old bastion, the Shimla Parliamentary constituency, after a gap of 15 years in the ensuing Lok Sabha election.
Congress had registered a spectacular win in the 2022 Assembly polls in the Shimla Parliamentary constituency, wherein it got 13 out of 17 seats, which now becomes a reason for the party to stay confident in the Lok Sabha election, especially as it is home to five ministers, Deputy Speaker and three Chief Parliamentary Secretaries.
The Congress has cautiously picked up Kasauli MLA, Vinod Sultanpuri as Lok Sabha candidate against BJP’s sitting MP and former BJP President, Suresh Kashyap, as Sultanpuri’s father, late KD Sultanpuri represented Shimla Lok Sabha constituency six times in a row from 1980 to 1998.
Shimla seat was won by Himachal Vikas Congress candidate (in alliance with BJP)) Dhani Ram Shandil (presently a minister in the Sukhu government) in 1999. He was re-elected in 2004 on a Congress ticket.
In 2009 and 2014, BJP’s Virender Kashyap won the Lok Sabha election from Shimla, and in 2019, BJP’s Suresh Kashyap got elected, defeating the Congress nominee by over three lakh votes in a strong Modi wave.
Shimla Lok Sabha seat is spread across Shimla district, barring Rampur Assembly segment, Solan district and Sirmaur district. All three former Chief Ministers of the Congress party- founder Chief Minister, Dr YS Parmar, Thakur Ram Lal and Virbhadra Singh ( who became CM six times)- came from the Shimla Parliamentary constituency.
Although Virbhadra Singh belonged to Rampur Bushahr in Shimla district, which is part of the Mandi Parliamentary constituency, he represented Rohroo for a long time, Shimla (rural) and then Arki in the state Legislative Assembly. Dr YS Parmar was from Sirmaur district and Thakur Ram Lal was from Jubbal in Shimla district.
BJP’s Suresh Kashyap hails from Sirmaur district and Congress nominee Vinod Sultanpuri is from Solan district.
If Sultanpuri, who is considered close to the Chief Minister, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, has a big battery of MLAs, ministers and CPSs at his back, Kashyap is relying more on the organizational support of the BJP.
The Congress party is trying to spread the word that Kashyap has not been an active MP and he did not come back to the people after winning the election in 2019. More so, he has no big achievement in the Shimla Parliamentary constituency.
In the apple belt of Shimla district, the Congress party has targeted the Modi government for decreasing the import duty on apples, which has threatened the local apple market.
Sultanpuri said the BJP MP has not come up to the expectations of the people in his constituency.
“He asked only two questions in the Parliament in his five-year term and never showed concern for the issue of apple growers or even the natural calamity that hit Himachal last year,” he said.
Kashyap, on the other hand, banks on the achievements of the Modi government and said the Central government has been sanctioning big development projects to the small hill state.
He said the Centre had liberally released funds for projects like IIM, Dhaula Kuan, Renuka hydroelectric project, national highways and Medical College Nahan.
The Congress will have to change its spectacles to see the development in Himachal at the instance of the NDA government,” he said.
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