Maheshwar Singh, a former BJP MP and scion of Kullu royalty has agreed to withdraw his nomination papers before the deadline on October 29 ahead of the Himachal Pradesh Polls 2022.
Singh, who often flaunts his closeness to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and even PM Narendra Modi, had filed his nomination papers from Kullu even as the BJP had cleared the name of Narottam Thakur, an RSS-backed government lecturer as its official candidate. Thakur took voluntary retirement from his job and was handpicked by the BJP for contesting the Kullu constituency, which the BJP hasn’t won since 2007.
He is one of 20-odd new faces fielded by the BJP for the forthcoming election as the party is trying to make a determined bid to overwrite the custom (riwaaz) about the incumbent government not returning to power in Himachal Pradesh.
Thus, the BJP has landed itself into trouble over denying tickets to sitting, former and also some veteran leaders.
Among those is Maheshwar Singh, who had facilitated Prime Minister Modi during Kullu Dussehra in his capacity as the chief caretaker of Lord Raghunath, the presiding deity of ancient Kullu Dussehra.
For the past five days, BJP National President JP Nadda had been camping in Bilaspur, his home town to persuade the rebels to withdraw their nomination papers. Those who have refused to fall in the line include BJP rebels in three assembly constituencies.
On Thursday, Nadda flew to Shimla and sent the party helicopter to Kullu to bring Maheshwar Singh for talks at Hotel Peterhoff, where he was also joined by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, state BJP president Suresh Kashyap, and BJP’s organizing secretary Pawan Rana, an RSS member.
Five-and-half hours of hard bargains made Maheshwar Singh fall in line and he was sent back to Kullu to inform his supporters about his decision not to contest.
But, the trouble which the party wanted to quell – killing two birds with one stone -- did not pay off. His son Hiteshwar Singh, who had rebelled to contest against the BJP candidate, Surender Shourie, has declined to follow his father’s dictates.
Banjar, where the BJP has been winning alternately since 1977, has former BJP president-turned-Congress candidate, Khimi Ram Sharma, posing a challenge to the ruling party. Sharma had sensed quite early that he would not get the ticket and decided to join the Congress.
With less than 24 hours left for the last date of withdrawals, the BJP top leadership has not been able to breathe in relief over the rebels threatening to overturn the party’s apple cart in at least 10 to 12 assembly constituencies.
“We are in constant dialogue with the rebels to withdraw and support the party. The tickets have been given as per BJP’s selection procedure, which also involves internal surveys and scrutiny of the aspirant's profiles. I feel by October 29 the picture will be very clear,” says Devender Rana, BJP co-in-charge for the elections in the state.
Former BJP MLA K L Thakur, who lost his battle for the ticket to sitting MLA Lakhwinder Rana, who had joined the BJP ahead of the poll, has refused to withdraw at any cost.
Another turncoat congress MLA Pawan Kajal contesting from Kangra is facing rebellion from the BJP local unit.
In Mandi, BJP's former media charge Praveen Sharma is adamant to contest as independent questioning the party's decision to give the ticket to Anil Sharma, a former minister and son of Pt Sukh Ram.
Sharma's son Ashray Sharma had contested as a Congress candidate in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls which made Sharma quit his cabinet post. Initially, he started hobnobbing with the Congress but feeling better prospects in the BJP, he returned to the party for the ticket. This left Praveen Sharma to revolt.
In all, there are 36 rebels and a few of them are also potential leaders. This is the highest number ever in the state in a ruling party. The scene is also similar to the Congress but the number is not more than seven to eight persons.
