Four parliamentary seats of Himachal Pradesh are giving Himalayan problems to both the BJP and the Congress as indecisiveness has gripped both the parties on the choice of candidates, resulting in further delay in the announcement of the names. The Opposition BJP has though scored some points over ruling Congress by announcing the candidates for Shimla, Hamirpur and Kangra but its Central Election Committee, which met on Saturday remained indecisive over the Congress stronghold Mandi seat.
After BJP’s dissident group Himachal lokhit Party (HlP) chief Maheshwar Singh refused to contest the upcoming polls from Mandi parliamentary seat and merger of his over two-year old party, the saffron party stands in fix over the choice of a strong candidate to be fielded against Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh’s wife, Pratibha Singh. The BJP sources said that discussions were held over Mandi seat in the Central Election Committee meeting at Delhi and names from the panels sent by the State unit were discussed but no conclusion was arrived as the election in Himachal Pradesh is still two months away on May 7.
State BJP chief Satpal Singh Satti said that all the channels of talks with Maheshwar Singh are now closed and party will now take a call on the names of candidates from the panel of names sent by the state unit. “The central election committee of BJP is likely to meet on March 13 and hopefully candidate for Mandi seat will be announced on the same day,” said Satti.
Similarly, the Congress Central Election Committee which met on Friday evening also remained indecisive over the choice of candidate from Hamirpur and Kangra as result the tickets were not announced for all the four seats. “Now, it appears that central election committee meeting to be held on March 12, will take a call on the lok Sabha tickets for the State,” said Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) chief Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu. Sources said that Congress stands divided over the choice of candidate from Hamirpur and Kangra where BJP has fielded heavyweight candidates Anurag Thakur, son of former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal from Hamirpur and veteran party leader and former Union Minister Shanta Kumar from Kangra respectively.