Having faced the brunt of indecisiveness during Assembly election, BJP seems to be going on correctional path by bringing back the heavyweight rebels back into party fold ahead of the lok Sabha elections to improve its prospects where each seat is likely to matter at the national level.
Around half a dozen BJP rebels who were denied tickets during Assembly polls and punctured wheels of the much hyped ‘Mission Repeat’ campaign of party are likely to be inducted into the party fold for which announcement is likely to be done anytime soon.
According to the party sources, during the meeting of manifesto committee former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal had strongly pleaded for the necessity of bringing back the rebels into party.
“The party leadership had discussed the matter and after assessing the pros and cons of each and every individual on case to case basis gave the green signal to re-induct some of the rebels. The formal announcement could be made anytime soon,” said a party leader.
However, it is highly unlikely that Kullu MlA Maheshwar Singh, a rebel who floated his ownfit Himachal lokhit Party (HlP) and is lone legislator of the party will be inducted back into the party fold. HlP had also caused considerable damage by eating into the vote share of BJP during the Assembly election.
Among the prominent rebel leaders who are set to rejoin the party are Roop Singh Thakur, six-time MlA from Sundernagar, Rakesh Pathania former MlA from Nurpur, Sanjay Guleria from Jawali, Ravi Dhiman from Jaisinghpur, Bhupender Chauhan from Bhatiyat and HN Kashyap from Solan constituencies.
Party sources said the rebel leaders met BJP national chief Rajnath Singh on Tuesday after getting a green signal on their re- entry into the party. BJP State president, Satpal Singh Satti admitted the discussions are being held at high level but till now no decision has been taken. “So for no final decision has been taken on bringing back the rebels into the party fold but we will let you know soon,” said Satti.
The rebel factor had cost the BJP heavily in the Vidhan Sabha election of 2012 and party suffered a major dent due to the rebels in Kangra district.
However, party is still cautious on bringing back the rebel leaders and only those with considerable mass base, clean image and regional equations would get entry back in the party.