All eyes are set on the Sujanpur Assembly by-poll in Hamirpur district of Himachal Pradesh as Congress rebel, now BJP candidate, Rajinder Rana faces a challenge of sorts this time, more due to his political hobnobbing over the last decade.
Better known for having brought transition in the BJP politics in Himachal by defeating former two times Chief Minister, Prem Kumar Dhumal and the party’s CM face in the 2017 Assembly polls, Rana is back to the senior BJP leader’s doorstep for support in by-poll, seven years later.
Rana, who initially called Dhumal his ‘guru’, had parted ways with the latter before the 2012 Assembly polls over an issue in the then Dhumal government, and won as an Independent MLA from the Sujanpur Assembly segment in 2012. However, at the instance of then Congress Chief Minister, Virbhadra Singh, he had resigned as an independent MLA from Sujanpur and joined the Congress party to contest against BJP leader, Anurag Thakur (Dhumal’s son) in the Parliament poll in 2014.
Anurag defeated him by over 98000 votes. Rana’s wife, who was given a Congress ticket in the Sujanpur Assembly by-poll later in 2014, was defeated by Narender Thakur of BJP by a margin of over 500 votes.
In 2017, when the BJP changed the constituency of Prem Kumar Dhumal from Hamirpur to Sujanpur after declaring him as a CM face, Rana unexpectedly defeated Dhumal by 1919 votes. Rana was elected as MLA third time in 2022 by defeating BJP’s Ranjit Singh by 399 votes.
Within 14 months of Congress rule, Rana turned rebel, along with five other MLAs, after he was reportedly ignored for a cabinet berth by Chief Minister, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, who too hails from Hamirpur district. All the six rebels were later disqualified, following which they joined the BJP and are now contesting the by-poll on BJP ticket.
What makes the situation precarious for Rana is that the Hamirpur district in BJP is still dominated by the Dhumals, with four times MPs in a row, Union Minister, Anurag Thakur attaining a stature at the national level in BJP now. And with Rana having led to former CM and Anurag’s father, Prem Kumar Dhumal’s unceremonious exit from electoral politics in 2017, it appears to be difficult for the Dhumal family to patch up on the ground and support Rana wholeheartedly in the electoral field.
Though Anurag is contesting Parliament poll simultaneously and will have to campaign in Sujanpur for BJP, his body language on Rana’s entry in BJP has seemingly not been positive. This sounds an alarm for Rana in the run to the by-poll as he will now have to depend on the Dhumal family to a large extent in this election, especially as the BJP men in Sujanpur are unhappy with his ticket.
All this may increase Rana’s problems in Sujanpur, especially as the slogan of ‘One vote for PM and one for CM’ is also catching up in Hamirpur district above party lines, where the by-poll for Sujanpur and Badsar is slated for June 1 along with Parliament election.
“People of Sujanpur had ousted the BJP’s CM face Dhumal in 2017 and had suffered a lot in terms of development and other works even in the BJP government previously. They may not like to repeat the same mistake now as the prestige and stability of Congress Chief Minister, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu is attached with the results of six by-polls, including two in his home district,” said political observers.
Even as Congress is yet to declare a candidate in Sujanpur, Rana is facing a lot of attack on his image by Chief Minister, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, who has categorically spoken against the rebels as having sold out their ‘imaan’, cheating the people of their constituencies who elected them on Congress ticket for five years in 2022. “People who revolted against their government at the instance of BJP for money should be defeated.
The Congress government enjoyed a mandate of people for five years, but these rebels attempted to destabilize the government ( which is doing good work for public welfare) for their gains. They will never be successful in their motive,” the Chief Minister mentions from every stage over these days.
Rana’s strength however is his popularity due to his social connection with the people of Sujanpur for years and he enjoys an influence, which, to an extent, does not have to do with party. He has already spread the word that he was being humiliated in the Congress government and the Sujanpur constituency was being ignored while claiming that the people of Sujanpur have always stood by him and he was sure that they would support him in the by-poll.
Follow us
