Threatened by a change of guard should the ruling Congress in Himachal Pradesh fare badly in the four lok Sabha seats, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh’s focus on cricket to target former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and his son Anurag Thakur has failed to touch a cord with the voters as the final campaign round gets underway.
Addressing an election rally at Jaisinghpur in Kangra Parliamentary constituency, Virbhadra lashed out at Dhumal by holding the BJP’s 2008-2012 term as one where corruption thrived and land scams were the order of the day.A day earlier, the Chief Minister in rallies at Bilaspur, Thural and Sullah spoke about the Government resolve to rid HP Cricket Association of Anurag Thakur even as the State vigilance department has registered more than one case over alleged illegal land transfer for constructing the scenic cricket stadium at Dharamshala and a luxurious hotel by the association.
Given the poor fiscal condition of the State, Congress has been unable to position development as poll plank and party in-charge Rajiv Shukla, at a recent Press conference, not having denounced HPCA has left Virbhadra’s cricket poll issue in limbo. Both Shukla and Anurag Thakur happen to be members of the cricket BCCI board and are in the know of HPCA and the States conflict of interests on the issue.Riding on a dominating election campaign, BJP, on the other hand, has turned the issue around by blaming the State authorities and the Chief Minister’s attitude in particular that has denied the Dharmashala stadium IPl matches in the current season.
Veteran BJP leader Shanta Kumar, who is the party’s candidate in Kangra and Dhumal have been laying the blame at the Governments’ door the loss to the State as the sport generates a lot of tourism related business in and around Dharamshala during any important cricket match played at the venue. With local issues not making much ice, pushing for development as main issue and Narendra Modi positioned as a strong leader to overcome the policy paralysis that UPA II faced in the second term, has given BJP an edge in the states election campaign.
With Dhumal telling crowds that the Congress Government in the State like the one in Delhi was on its last days, the veteran Chief Minister is fighting a last ditch battle with his back to the wall as the Congress campaign fails to match that of BJP. After withdrawal of candidate nominations, 38 candidates are left in the fray. Besides, congress and BJP, AAP and BSP have put up candidates on all the seats.