Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, March 28
In an embarrassing turn of events today, the Congress had to put on hold the scheduled induction of BJP leader Suresh Chandel into the party after several state unit leaders raised a storm.
Chandel, a three-time BJP Lok Sabha MP from Hamirpur, was to join the Congress at 1 pm in the presence of AICC state incharge Rajni Patil. At 1 pm, however, there was no sign of Chandel.
Chandel’s entry, it is learnt, was put on hold after party president Rahul Gandhi was informed of last-minute anxiety being shown by Himachal Congress leaders.
Gandhi was told of Chandel’s effigies being burnt by party leaders in Hamirpur.
Sources said state leaders from Hamirpur and elsewhere in Himachal were displeased at the possibility of Chandel getting the Congress ticket from Hamirpur. They cited his proximity to the PK Dhumal camp and also the fact that he lost the 2012 Assembly election on the BJP ticket and the BJP denied him an Assembly nomination in 2017. A top Congress source said the decision to induct Chandel and consider his candidature from Hamirpur was taken only after all other potential party nominees from the segment had declined to contest. These included former state Congress president Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, sitting CLP leader Mukesh Agnihotri, and Ram Lal Thakur.
“Most potential nominees declined to contest from Hamirpur. When attempts were made to clear the candidature of senior state MLA Rajinder Rana’s son Abhishek Rana from the segment, they opposed that too. The party was left with no option but to consider an outsider in Hamirpur. Now, we learn there is an objection to this plan. The best way forward is consultation,” a senior AICC source said.
The Tribune has learnt that AICC incharge of Himachal Rajni Patil will again talk to senior state leaders to see who among them is willing to contest from Hamirpur.
3 likely nominees
Congress’ Central Election Committee has “more or less cleared three candidates” —MP Col Dhani Ram Shandil from Shimla, Ashray Sharma from Mandi and MLA Pawan Kajal from Kangra.
from The Tribune https://ift.tt/2uzbHnd
via Today’s News Headlines
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