Alarm bells for BJP in Himachal

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HimVani
Himachal literally got into election mode on Sunday with both Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party holding their separate meetings to take stock of their preparedness for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls. But the atmospheres appears to have heated up earlier than expected with senior BJP leader Narender Thakur, son of BJP stalwart late Jagdev Chand, formally joining the rival camp a day later.

Though the party is in denial mode, this appears to be the biggest setback to the saffron party, and especially the Chief Minister, after they came to power in the state. The rise of Prem Kumar Dhumal as the undisputed leader of BJP in the state has been quite phenomenal, and so has been the party’s victory in the recent polls, but the honeymoon period appears to be over for the party with the coming polls demanding fresh strategies.

On the other hand, Congress, at this point, has nothing much to lose, and therefore it can gamble with any idea that crops up in the party’s think tank. Addressing a press conference, Narender Thakur leveled serious allegations against Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and his son Anurag Thakur, claiming that the party has been practicing double standards by criticizing Congress at the national level for promoting family members in politics, and at the same time patronizing Dhumal’s family members in the state.

BJP state president Jai Ram Thakur described it as frustration and of no consequence, but Thakur may at least open up a front against the CM in his home turf where he has emerged the undisputed king. The Congress has for years unsuccessfully been trying to dent Dhumal’s reputation in Hamirpur, and this may well be their chance. And BJP’s early announcement to again field Anurag Thakur from the constituency for the Lok Sabha polls may give Thakur some ammo to fire random volleys.Thakur was associated with the BJP for the past 18 years and had unsuccessfully contested the bye-election of HP Vidhan Sabha in 1993 on BJP ticket after the death of his father Jagdev Chand.

It is learnt that efforts are on by the Congress to rope in more BJP leaders from the CM’s home constituency, which now may not appear too difficult considering that Dhumal’s dominance may certainly have affected certain ambitions. Playing it safe, Congress president Kaul Sing Thakur while formally welcoming Narender Thakur at the party head office, said that the party was in no hurry to announce its candidate from Hamirpur.

With no real third option materializing in the state, with BSP’s Vijay Singh Mankotia again walking in the wilderness, the one-to-one Congress vs BJP fight will definitely produce direct casualties, this being a beginning, but the latter is certainly at an disadvantage.
Maybe, it’s a warning for the BJP top brass to hold their stock or else…

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10 COMMENTS

  1. Hamirpur Lok Shabha seat has many factor associated with it , Mr. Narender will further dilute the impact of

    a) Caste Factor
    b) Region Factor

    Though there is a BJP govt in the the state but only Hamirpur district gets the priority for Developmental work . Una and Bilaspur forms the neutral zones for Both the parties. Mr. Thakur can give tough fight to BJP .

  2. Hey, what is Suresh Chandel upto, these days? Sure looks like a potential one to take on Anurag from Hamirpur.

  3. Dhumal family promotion programme will have to stop now

    Himself CM,

    Gulab singh thakur- Cabnet PWD etc

    Sheela Dhumal(wife)- chairman redcross socity

    Anurag thakur- MP hamirpur

    HP school board prisident- a relative

    what is this?? everybody knows Anurag Thakur as MP but nobody likes him its the new govt. and local cm factor that he managed such victory, moreover congress candidate was weak and Virbhadra did'nt work a lot. This time picture will be different. Hamirpur is the most litrate disst. Thakur Jagdev Chand's respect is still there more than Mr. Dhumal's.

    • Mr Dhansukh Lal

      You have to remember all of them got elected through a deocratic process and not nominated by anybody and so whats wrong with that.Mr Gulab Singh is in politics since 1977 and didnt join it after his daughter got married to Anurag and CMs wife is supposed to be chairperson of Red Cross Society as a custom so therefore Pratibha Ji couldn't have continued there after change of Govt. And some Mr. Gupta is Chairman Of School Board (not even distantly related to Mr. Dhumal) so kindly let us not mislead people with false information. And why everyboddy knows Anurag Thakur is because of excellent work done as HPCA President and Dharamshala Stadium which nobody had even dreamt of. And Mr. Nadda what's wrong if Arun did not use the surname and was selected on his own. And as far as I remember he cleared the MBA with 75% marks without his surname.I know all this because we studied together . Does your surname help you in any ways? Im sure not because you need to work hard in life any which ways.

  4. Its very interesting that all intelligent people Born in the family of CM .

    Entire family is holding top slots … I remember the days when his younger SON was selected for MBA from HPU however his name was displayed only Arun Kumar not ARUN DHUMAL ….. Mr. Dhumal was CM then . Do not know what was the reason for deleting Sir name ….. May be For marks obtained in Group discussion and Interview. ….

    People of Himachal should stop this immediately otherwise Future of state will be very bad and State will become a Guest House of Jallandhar ….

    • sir,

      kindly give me information in which year he had taken admission ? or call me [REMOVED]

      Moderator's note:

      Pls refrain from posting your mobile numbers on public sites

  5. .for Rahul

    Suresh Chandel is one of the former BJP biggies ready to jump on to Congress' side, after Narender Thakur and former education minister in Dhumal government Karan Singh. In one of his statements he was quoted saying, "When my brother Maheshwar Singh has no space in the party despite holding top positions for long time, why would they think of me ". So does this also gives a signal for Maheshwar Singh's switching side. The time will soon tell.

  6. I suddenly came to know that son of Late BJP stalwart Jagdev Chand joins congerss. I visted himachal almost 28 years ago when Jagdev Chand was holding PWD in Shanta Kumars Cabnet, I along with my friend attentd a meeting with him, what a man he was perfect administrator, honest and the strongest leader I have ever met in m life. People like him are always above any party true property of a state. If some one from his family is joining congress then for one thing I am very much sure about, that something is going wrong in BJP. I have attented many VIPs and VVIPs but that meeting was one of its own. Now I am a citizen of USA and never visited HP again.

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