BJP fields all 6 Cong rebels in Himachal Assembly bypolls, upsets leaders in own party

Shimla, Mar 26 (PTI) The BJP on Tuesday named six disqualified Congress MLAs as its candidates for the Himachal Pradesh Assembly bypolls, triggering a rebellion by party leaders who expected they would be fielded from these seats.

Hours after the BJP announcement, former minister Ram Lal Markanda quit the party and announced he would “definitely” contest the bypolls. BJP leader Ranjit Singh also said he will contest as an Independent.

Former minister Virender Kanwar, who was defeated last time by one of the Congress rebels, expressed displeasure over the announcement by his party.

The BJP nominated the six former MLAs from the same seats they held as Congress members before their disqualification from the House.

Sudhir Sharma has been fielded from Dharamshala, Ravi Thakur from Lahaul and Spiti, Rajinder Rana from Sujanpur, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal from Barsar, Chetanya Sharma from Gagret and Devinder Kumar Bhutto from Kutlehar.

All six of them switched over to the BJP from the Congress on March 23, nearly a month after being disqualified from the House for defying a party whip to be present and vote in favour of the Congress-led government during the cut motions and budget.

Markanda quit the party to protest the fielding of Ravi Thakur, who had defeated him on the Lahaul and Spiti seat in the last Assembly election by a margin of 1,542 votes. The entire BJP block unit of Lahaul Spiti also resigned in protest against the party’s decision and pledged support to Markanda.

Markanada, a former agriculture and tribal development minister during the previous BJP government led by Jai Ram Thakur, was a frontrunner for the BJP ticket from the Lahaul and Spiti Assembly seat.

“I will contest the Assembly bypolls for sure. There is a possibility of my contesting from the Congress,” Markanda said, adding that a meeting of the Lahaul and Spiti core committee has been convened to chalk out the future strategy.

Former BJP rural development and panchayati raj minister Virender Kanwar said the people of his constituency are upset that the BJP nominated Congress rebel Devinder Kumar Bhutto, a first-time MLA, from Kutlehar in his place.

“The party is above everything but the people of my constituency are disappointed and want that the decision of the party should be reviewed by conducting a fresh survey on popularity in the area. Bhutto worked like a dictator in the past 15 months and has lost his goodwill,” he told PTI.

The BJP’s Ranjit Singh, who lost to his Congress rival Rajendra Rana in the 2022 assembly polls by a margin of 399 votes, said he would contest as an Independent.

“In the Lok Sabha elections, I will support the party candidate Union minister Anurag Singh Thakur but in the bypolls, I will contest as an Independent candidate,” he added.

Talking to media persons here on Tuesday, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said some BJP leaders, including Markanda and Rakesh Kalia of Gagret, were in contact with the Congress.

“People of Himachal are intelligent, believe in democracy and would give a befitting reply to those practising ‘aaya ram, gaya ram’ culture in Dev Bhumi Himachal, especially those who sold themselves,” he said.

“I want to inform you that even the 25 sitting legislators of the BJP are feeling suffocated,” Sukhu added.

Among the names announced by the BJP, Sudhir Sharma is a four-term MLA and former minister while Rajinder Rana defeated former chief minister and BJP candidate Prem Kumar Dhumal in 2017.

Three-time legislator Lakhanpal is a former chief parliamentary secretary, while Ravi Thakur, a two-time legislator, is a former chairman of the state Congress Seva Dal and ex-vice chairperson of the National Commission for Schedule Tribes.

Chetanya Sharma and Devinder Kumar Bhutto are first-time MLAs.

These MLAs and three Independents had voted in favour of the BJP nominee Harsh Mahajan in the Rajya Sabha polls held in the state on February 27, triggering a crisis for the Congress-led government in the state.

The three independents, Ashish Sharma (Hamirpur constituency), Hoshiyar Singh (Dehra) and K L Thakur (Nalagarh), submitted their resignation on March 22 and joined the BJP on the next day.

With the disqualification of six Congress MLAs, the strength of the ruling party came down from 40 to 34, including the Speaker who can vote only in the case of a tie during a floor test, in the 68-member Assembly. The BJP has 25 members.

Ever since the Rajya Sabha polls, the BJP and Congress have been trading charges with the ruling party slamming the opposition for hatching a conspiracy to topple the democratically elected government in the state by using money power and maintaining that the public will not forgive the Congress rebels for their betrayal.

The BJP has said that the Congress government is in the minority and the chief minister should have resigned on moral grounds.