Disobedience in HP BJP, an ex-minister steps down after six Congress rebels are selected for ballots

After the top leadership fielded all six disqualified Congress MPs for the Assembly byelections on June 1, there was a revolt among the party’s rank and file, leading to the resignation of a former BJP minister in Himachal Pradesh today. Leaders of the party expressed indignation at the decision to field the six Congress rebels who had just joined the saffron party as soon as the BJP’s list of candidates for the Assembly byelections was revealed today.

The party’s high brass had sent senior officials to accompany the six nominees to their sectors, knowing that they would be met with opposition. The candidates are Sudhir Sharma from Dharamsala, Rajinder Rana from Sujanpur, Ravi Thakur from Lahaul-Spiti, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal from Barsar, Chaitanya Sharma from Gagret, and Devender Bhutto from Kutlehar.

The BJP leaders were incensed with the party’s choice since they had unsuccessfully challenged it in the 2022 Assembly elections. Ram Lal Markanda, a former minister for the Bharatiya Janata Party, announced his resignation and said he would run in the bypoll as an independent or on the ticket of another party. At a meeting when the BJP’s Lahaul unit withdrew from the party, he made this declaration.

Similar incidents were seen in Gagret, Una, where Naina Devi MLA Randhir Sharma and election candidate Chaitanaya Sharma faced the anger of party members. In Kutlehar, where former chief minister Jai Ram Thakur was there to greet Devender Bhutto, former BJP minister Virender Kanwar did not attend the event.

Maheshwar Singh, a former Mandi MP, has expressed his disapproval of actress Kangana Ranaut’s nomination for the Mandi Lok Sabha constituency. The BJP would likely have to put in a lot of effort to put an end to this kind of opposition to the decision to choose renegade Congress lawmakers who had voted in both the Rajya Sabha elections on February 27 and the other one.