The Aryavarth Express
Agency(Himachal Pradesh): In Shimla, former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister and current Leader of the Opposition, Jai Ram Thakur, acknowledged on Wednesday that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is actively engaging in discussions to soothe internal discontent stemming from recent ticket allocations. This unrest emerged after the BJP’s central leadership decided to nominate six former Congress members who had supported the BJP in the last Rajya Sabha elections and officially joined the party on March 23. Thakur indicated that such dissatisfaction is typical during election periods but assured that the party is in dialogue with various members to resolve these issues promptly.
The controversy intensified when Ram Lal Markanda, a former minister and BJP representative from the Lahaul and Spiti assembly constituency, resigned from the party in protest against the nomination of Congress defector Ravi Thakur, who had previously defeated him. Following this, all office bearers of the BJP’s Lahaul and Spiti block resigned in solidarity with Markanda and declared their support for him in any forthcoming byelection.
Markanda, who served as the agriculture and tribal development minister in Thakur’s administration, has openly declared his intention to contest the upcoming assembly polls, hinting at a possible affiliation with the Congress party for his candidacy.
Further dissent was voiced by Virender Kanwar, another former minister, who expressed his disapproval of the BJP’s decision to replace him with Congress rebel Devinder Kumar Bhutto for the Kutlehar constituency. Kanwar criticized Bhutto’s leadership style and suggested that the party reassess its decision based on local sentiment and popularity.
Additionally, Ranjit Singh, a BJP member defeated in the 2022 assembly elections, announced his plan to run as an independent in the byelections, though he will support BJP’s Anurag Singh Thakur in the Lok Sabha elections.
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu also commented on the situation, noting that some BJP leaders, including Markanda and Rakesh Kalia from Gagret, are in discussions with the Congress. This political maneuvering follows the disqualification of six Congress MLAs who voted in favor of the BJP, weakening the Congress-led government’s standing in the state assembly.