Himachal Lok Sabha polls: Will CM Sukhu win back cross-voting set-back

Shimla: Having got Congress heavyweight and former union minister Anand Sharma fielded from Kangra to give elections a serious turn, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, is trying to pull out all the stops to recover set-back his party has suffered due to cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha poll,held on February

Already in the campaign mode to counter opposition BJP’s well-organised election strategy, Sukhu headed for Radha Soami Satsang, Beas Chief Maharaj Gurinder Singh at Paror in Kangra, on Sunday to seek his blessings for the party’s ‘Mission-10’.

‘Mission-10’, as per Sukhu, also includes six Assembly seats for which a by-election will be held simultaneously with four Lok Sabha constituencies on June 1—the last and final phase of the polling.

While sharing the photo on social media, Chief Minister Sukhu wrote, “Today, Anand Sharma ji, the candidate from Kangra Lok Sabha constituency, Vikramaditya Singh (Mandi) and Vinod Sultanpuri (Shimla) Dera chief Baba Ji of Radha Soami Satsang Vyas. Received blessings and participated in ‘Satsang’. The blessings of the Gurus always give energy to work diligently for the state and the general public”.

Entry of Anand Sharma in the electoral contest for Lok Sabha, almost 42 years after he had lost election to the state Assembly from Shimla in 1982 to a BJP stalwart Dault Ram Chauhan, has boosted the Congress’s overall prospects and put the party on the front gear.

But it took Sukhu’s party almost three weeks to finalise the candidates for two Lok Sabha seats—Kangra where the BJP has fielded first-timer Dr Rajeev Bhardwaj, and Hamirpur –a strong fortress of union minister Anurag Thakur and his father Prem Kumar Dhumal,a two-time Chief Minister.

The Congress has fielded Satpal Raizada, a former Una MLA who had lost his election in 2022 to BJP senior Satpal Satti. Two other candidates finalised for the contest include state PWD minister Vikramaditya Singh, son of former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh to challenge Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut at Mandi and Vinod Sultanpuri, sitting MLA from Shimla (Reserve).

The 71 yr old, Anand Sharma who hails from Shimla, will be testing his popularity and standing as a national level politician for, the first time on the home ground, after having primarily been a Rajya Sabha member thrice, and held key portfolios as a union minister and AICC spokesman.

“It’s indeed his journey from 10-Janpath to Kangra which will be facing electoral test” admits a senior Congress MLA as the party is trying to hard sell his experience of working at the highest levels of policy making for the country, dynamism and also his vast experience on India foreign policy, commerce and infrastructure funding.

“ It’s a unique experience, I bring to the ground in Kangra –where I have contributed to setting-up of institutions like NIFT, the regional office of Tea Board and some of the institutions, potentially useful to Himachal Pradesh,” he says.

This is also the first when the Congress has fielded a Brahmin face in the constituency, which earlier had elected prominent political figures like Shanta Kumar, also a Brahmin, Vikram Chand Mahajan, Sat Mahajan, Chander Kumar and Kanwar Gurga Chand ( Janata Party) and Rajan Sushant.

Sitting BJP MP Krishan Kapoor, Gaddi leader, has been denied ticket apparently on “ health grounds”. Nevertheless, the BJP feels confident of retaining the seat as per national trend favouring Modi (Narendra Modi, says Sanjay Sharma, BJP spokesman.

The biggest test for Sukhu, in this election, is not alone to break the BJP’s cycle of winning all four Lok Sabha seats as it did in 2014 and 2019, but also secure his government facing the BJP’s bid to destabilise a majority government.

Six Congress rebels, who cross-voted against the party in the Rajya Sabha election to favour Harsh Mahajan, BJP candidate, as back in the bypoll as BJP candidates. The Congress strength in the state Assembly, which was 40 when it came to power, has been reduced to 34. He needs at least one more MLA to get elected to the House to make up crucial numbers for the majority.