BJP Goes into a Huddle to Bring Back Poll Machinery on Track in Himachal Pradesh After Major Drubbings

After having suffered three major poll reverses in the last one-and-a-half years, a concerned BJP is initiating moves to put its poll machinery in Himachal Pradesh back on track ahead of the Lok Sabha polls due less than a year from now.

The party’s national president, JP Nadda, has been camping in his home state since last few days, first chairing the core committee meeting of the party and also holding public rallies to access the party’s preparations for the general elections.

The BJP has been suffering major setbacks since November 2021 when it lost the Mandi Lok Sabha by-poll with state Congress chief Pratibha Singh wresting the seat from it. It again lost out to the Congress last December losing the state assembly elections. It suffered an embarrassing defeat in the recently held civic body polls in Shimla, one of the oldest civic bodies in the country.

Concerned by these losses, the BJP is trying to regroup and even reach out to “upset” senior party leaders, which was being attributed to its loss in the state assembly polls. The BJP national president even met former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal a few days ago. The meeting in Delhi assumed significance as many of Dhumal’s loyalists, who were in the race for tickets, did not make it to the list.

Nadda chaired the core group meeting at Hamirpur late Tuesday night to chalk out a strategy for wining all four seats in the state in the 2024 parliamentary elections. Nadda, according to sources, told the local leadership that it was essential to hit the campaign trail early on and bring the poll machinery back on track. Nadda reportedly told the leaders that the party leaders and workers should reach out to people and tell them about the failure of the Congress government to fulfill the guarantees given to them before the Assembly elections. The senior leaders asked the party cadre to raise the issue of the denotification of over 700 government institutions opened by the previous BJP government.

Among those in attendance were national BJP vice-president Saudan Singh, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur, former chief ministers PK Dhumal and Jai Ram Thakur, state BJP president Rajeev Bindal, state BJP in-charge Avinash Rai Khanna, co-in charge Sanjay Tandon among others.

Though the finalisation of tickets for the four LS seats may take some time but informal talks have been held for this purpose. While the party may choose to stick to three of its incumbent MPs Anurag Thakur (Hamirpur), Suresh Kashyap (Shimla) and Kishan Kapoor (Kangra) but there is a possibility that new and fresh faces could be given a go-ahead for Kangra and Mandi constituencies.

The BJP will also take into consideration surveys about the best candidates, while finalising ticket.

Apart from being the home state of the national president, Himachal Pradesh has a deep connect with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who, in his earlier political years, was in charge of the state, and holds a good rapport with some of senior most leaders in the state.

At the core meeting, BJP leaders also deliberated on the reasons for the party’s defeat in the Mandi Lok Sabha and three Assembly by-elections, Vidhan Sabha polls and the Shimla Municipal Corporation elections.

Sources said the issue of the return of rebels to the party fold and bringing around disgruntled leaders, who have become inactive following the BJP’s defeat in the 2022 Assembly elections, was also discussed at the meeting. But Nadda emphasised that winnability will be the only criteria for the selection of candidates for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.