Ex-MLA Rakesh Kalia from Himachal quits the BJP; Congress may choose him for the Gaut bypoll
Rakesh Kalia, a three-time former MLA from Gagret in Una, has officially rejoined the party, which he had left after not being granted a ticket for the Assembly election in 2022. This has increased the likelihood that the Congress would field him for the Assembly bypoll.
He joined the BJP despite not receiving the party ticket because he was upset that the party had decided not to grant him the ticket in 2022. Kalia has rejoined the Congress, but new political alliances are forming in Gagret as a result of incumbent Congress MLA Chaitanya Sharma cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha election in February and ultimately joining the BJP.
During the Congress government headed by Virbhadra, Kalia continued to serve as both the Chief Parliamentary Secretary and the secretary of the AICC. Kalia has twice won from the Chintpurni Assembly segment (after called Gagret) while running for Congress. Kalia has also won once in the Gret Assembly section.
Despite not having finalized its candidates for the six Assembly byelections and the Lok Sabha seats in Kangra and Hamirpur, Kalia’s official admission into the Congress yesterday has increased the likelihood that he would be the party’s nominee for the bypoll in June. Party polls and comments from top state officials suggest that Kalia is the most formidable opponent for Chaitnaya, the renegade.
In addition to Kalia, Ram Lal Markanda, who entered politics in 1998 as an MLA for the Himachal Vikas Congress (HVC), may also join the Congress if he receives the party ticket from the Lahaul and Spiti tribal seat. Markanda is eager to run on the Congress ticket even though he served as a minister under the last BJP government and the saffron party is running Congress renegade Ravi Thakur for the bypoll.
Due to the disqualification of the six rebel Congress MLAs who had cast cross-party votes in the Rajya Sabha election, which the BJP won despite having only 25 MLAs in the 68-member Vidhan Sabha, the Congress central election committee is expected to make a decision regarding the finalization of the tickets for the six Assembly byelections.
