Three Himachal bypolls, a BJP’s test again against ‘stable’ Sukhu government
Shimla: Having swept all four Lok Sabha constituencies, hitting a hat-trick, in the parliamentary polls but losing four of six Assembly by-polls, opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) faces a fresh test at husting in three by-polls slated for July 10.
The by-polls are necessitated by the resignation of three independent MLAs—Hoshiar Singh (Dehra), K L Thakur (Nalagarh) and Ashish Kumar ( Hamirpur), who had joined the BJP immediately after the cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha poll in February 2024.
While six Congress rebels were disqualified by the Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania, on grounds of defying the party whip during the passing of the budget for the year 2024-25 –a day after their cross-voting, the independents having taken the BJP side, also quit their memberships of the House, and joined the BJP.
Bharatiya Janata Party has now made three independents as its candidates on the lines of six Congress rebels – four of them having lost their seats in the June 1, 2024 by-poll. But, the going seems to be tough for them looking at the fate of the four rebels losing their seats.
Only two Congress rebels could win back their seats. They included Sudhir Sharma, a former cabinet minister from Dharamshala and Inder Dutt Lakhanpal re-elected from Barsar. Their victory is attributed to their mass contact in the constituencies. An independent Rakesh Chaudhary has also queered the Congress pitch in Dharamshala benefitting Sudhir Sharma.
The BJP is back to square one facing a rebellion in the three constituencies where it has decided to re-field the erstwhile Independents as part of the party’s commitment to favour them.
“ The party is committing a similar mistake as it did in the 2022 Assembly polls when 21 rebellions fought against the party and again did not learn lessons from six by-polls. Some of the potential BJP contenders have already declared their plans to oppose the candidates” said a senior BJP leader in Shimla.
The state BJP president Rajeev Bindal, on the other hand, has justified the party’s decision to field independents, who he claims are in the BJP. It’s a matter of policy to give them tickets and also get them elected to the House to expand BJP’s tally in the state Assembly.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu – who is quite upbeat after the Congress winning four by-poll says, “It is all due to ill-conceived decisions of the independents who resigned for monetary gains and imposed burden on the state for holding the by-poll. There was no necessity for them to quit their seats as they could have easily supported the BJP as they initially did for the Congress.”
Sukhu has already held consultations with the party’s central leadership on giving three tickets.
“We have done the ground study and listed the probable candidates for the tickets. The announcement will be made very soon. We are going to win all three seats and the BJP remains on the losing wicket” he says.
