If indications and growing clamour are to be believed, Himachal Pradesh is bracing up for a very high-pitch electoral battle at Hamirpur parliamentary seat — a BJP bastion — which has eluded the Congress for 16 long years.
The ruling Congress is now making winning the seat, currently represented by former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal's son Anurag Thakur, as a ‘prestige issue’.
Hamirpur seat had taken the centre stage in the recent Congress meetings, especially after the visit of State in-charge Ambika Soni, who had asked the Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and State Congress chief Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu to reclaim the seat.
Since the Congress returned to power in the hill State, Anurag Thakur is in the eye of the storm as the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA), headed by him, had been embroiled in legal controversy over its status.
Thakur, only recently, has also been booked by the State Vigilance Bureau for forging documents to purchase a piece of land along with his younger brother.
Not taking the edge off, the Congress upped the ante against the BJP with Virbhadra Singh all set to hold three major rallies across the constituency in the coming fortnight -- at Una on October 23, Sujjanpur on October 27 and at Bilaspur on October 28.
The timing of rallies is significant as Thakur’s image has come under public scrutiny, and on the other hand, it indicates the strategic importance the Congress is taking on Hamirpur seat.
Not only the Government has planned to corner Thakur, it is out in the field down to the grass root level to weaken BJP’s support. Interestingly, over 100 meetings are being held by the Congress in different blocks and panchayat levels in the past one month.
The Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) president, hailing from Hamirpur constituency, is putting all out efforts to wrest the seat. His block tour, along with AICC secretary co-in-charge Raja Rampal Singh, will kick start from Bilaspur and followed by Hamirpur district.
Sources said that the Congress would corner Thakur for not only being “corrupt”, but also for spending more time in Mumbai and Dubai in connection with cricket, rather than in his constituency.
To counter Thakur, the Congress is expected to field an experienced but a young candidate. Sources maintained that State Industries Minister Mukesh Agnihotri could be the party’s choice for Hamirpur.
In addition, the Congress ‘think tank’ is also planning to use the service of Dhumal's aide Rajendra Rana, independent MlA from Sujjanpur supporting the Congress. Rana, who is seen more as a BJP man in Hamirpur parliamentary seat may be persuaded to contest independently to give a dent to BJP votes by making it a triangular contest.
Aware of the challenge ahead, the BJP is also not taking things lying down, and party cadres are being mobilised and booth-level strategies are being formulated, while Thakur is devoting more time in constituency, than earlier.
Thakur is using a sentimental but factual plank against the Congress about the step-motherly treatment met to Hamirpur constituency in the past 10 months by shifting several offices out of the district to neighbhouring Kangra district and harming interest of the constituency - a plank that is evoking good response.