After Congress, the BJP is facing rebellion after it announced the names of Congress defectors to contest bye-elections on the six Assembly constituencies.
The candidates include Rajinder Rana (Sujanpur Assembly constituency), Sudhir Sharma (Dharamshala), Ravi Thakur (Lahaul-Spiti), Inder Dutt Lakhanpal (Barsar), Devinder Kumar Bhutto (Kutlehar) and Chaitanya Sharma (Gagret).
The bye-elections are scheduled to be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections on June 1.
The dissidence in the party is palpable with the BJP MLAs, who contested elections on these seats in the Assembly elections 2022, openly punching holes in the party’s policy, showing their angst for being ignored.
Dharamshala BJP leader Rakesh Chaudhary, who contested on a BJP ticket in 2022 Assembly elections, had lost to four-time Congress MLA and minister Sudhir Sharma by 3,285 (5.47 per cent) votes.
Resigning from various posts of the BJP, he stated that he had been wronged.
Talking to the media on Wednesday, he said his strength is his supporters and he would contest elections if the people want him to do so, even if it means to fight as an independent candidate. “I had no idea that BJP would field Sudhir Sharma from Dharamshala. As far as I had known, Sudhir Sharma was to be given the ticket to contest Lok Sabha elections from Kangra, whereas I was to contest from Dharamshala. I had left no stone unturned to work honestly for the party. This is unfortunate,” he added.
On Tuesday, former BJP minister and MLA Ram Lal Markanda from Lahaul and Spiti, along with his supporters, announced his mass resignation along with his supporters.
The BJP now allotted ticket to Congress turncoat Ravi Thakur to contest from Lahaul-Spiti. Thakur had won from Markanda by 1616 (8.59 percent) votes in 2022 Assembly elections.
Markanda announced that he is ready to contest elections as an independent candidate or on some other party ticket.
Markanda, justifying his revolt, said that the future of the Lahaul-Spiti is at stake and he would not shy away from taking any step, even if it meant quitting the party to re-contest the elections.
Meanwhile, Senior BJP leader and three-time Member of Parliament (MP), Maheshwar Singh expressed his disenchantment with the party for picking up Bollywood actress Kangna Ranaut to contest the Mandi parliamentary elections.
“There is unrest and chaos in the Mandi parliamentary constituency. I have conveyed my displeasure and the rebellion of the people of the constituency through the Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur who met me yesterday, for allotting ticket to the candidate who had not been the primary member of BJP and has also not contributed in any way for the party,” he said.