Guddu lal, who was recently inducted in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at Dehradun in presence of the party State president Ajay Bhatt and Minister of State Dhan Singh Rawat has taken a political somersault. Accusing the party leadership of keeping him in the dark, Guddu lal has turned rebellious and declared his intention to contest Tharali by- election as an independent candidate.
This stand of Guddu lal has embarrassed the BJP which has made up its mind to play the sympathy card by fielding widow of Magan lal Shah, Munni Devi from Tharali. Magan lal had won the seat comfortably in the assembly elections of 2017 defeating Jeet Ram of Congress. Guddu lal, who contested the election as an independent candidate had cornered an impressive 7089 votes to finish third in the race. In the elections, Shah cornered 25931 and defeated Jeet Ram of Congress who got 21073 votes.
The Tharali By election is being necessitated due to the death of Magan lal Shah who died due to Swine Flu in February this year.
After the decision of Guddu lal to disturb the apple-cart of BJP by deciding to contest the forthcoming by- election, the BJP leadership is in damage control mode, their attempts to woo back Guddu lal however has failed to yield any result. It is learnt that the supporters of lal got annoyed when he decided to join BJP last week without taking them into confidence. When it became clear that BJP has made up its mind to give ticket to Munni Devi, Guddu lal turned rebellious.
Meanwhile the Guddu lal fiasco has disturbed the calculation of BJP and as a result of it the party is yet to announce its official candidate. With the last date of filing the nomination scheduled on May 10, time is running out for the party. Apart from Guddu lal, Balbir Ghuniyal is also in the reckoning for the BJP ticket. The Congress on the other hand has taken a lead by announcing the name of Jeet Ram as its official candidate. There was actually no doubt about the candidature of Jeet Ram and he has taken lead in campaigning.
Political analyst and senior journalist Jai Singh Rawat said that Guddu lal has potential to damage the electoral prospects of BJP in Tharali. He pointed out that the support base of Guddu lal has been a traditional supporter of BJP. Rawat said that Guddu lal enjoys good support in Ghat area and if BJP decides to field him then there is a real chance that the voters of Pinder valley will get annoyed.
The BJP spokesperson Devendra Bhasin on the other hand sounded confident of his party’s victory in by-election. He said that the BJP’s organisation is fully geared up and its candidate would sail through the elections.