Amitabh Shukla | Hamirpur
As election campaign comes to an
end for the four seats of Himachal Pradesh, battle for the Hamirpur Lok Sabha
seat is the one to watch out for as this is perhaps the fiercest contest in the
tiny hill State where there is action, drama, subterfuge, and involvement of
top leaders.
Apart from the candidates who are
contesting from here, the political future of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh
and former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal is at stake. Dhumal’s, son and
two-time MP Anurag Thakur, who is also president of the Youth wing of BJP, is
pitted against Congress candidate Rajinder Rana.
The third contestant who is
grabbing enough eyeballs to increase the worry lines of the main contestants is
Aam Aadmi Party candidate Kamal Kanta Batra. She is the mother of Vikram Batra,
Kargil martyr and winner of highest gallantry award of the country, Paramir
Chakra. She may not win but has stirred a debate in the constituency which
sends a large number of soldiers in the Indian army.
BJP prime ministerial candidate
Narendra Modi’s use of the word “Ye dil mange more”, immortalised by the
Paramvir Chakra winner in a TV interview, in a rally here last week, stirred a
controversy.
The AAP candidate could be an
electoral distraction but a classical political war is being between Anurag
Thakur and Rajinder Rana. For Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, known as Raja
Sahib, it is practically a do or die battle. He made Rana resign as an
Independent MLA, brought him in Congress and put pressure on the high command
to get a ticket for him.
People in the constituency and
all Congress supporters say that it is the Chief Minister who is contesting
though the name may be of Rana on the EVMs. If Rana loses, it will be the Chief
Minister who will have egg on his face as the entire script was written by him.
Apart from Virbhadra who has campaigned intensively, his son Vikramaditya
Singh, known as Tikka Sahib, too camped in this constituency for days together
given its importance and this suggested the seriousness with which the ruling
family of the State is taking this constituency.
Similarly, Anurag Thakur may be
the BJP candidate and has his own standing in the organisation as the president
of the BJYM, but it is his father Prem Kumar Dhumal’s position and pre-eminence
in the State BJP which is at stake. Dhumal has put all his political skills in
the contest to ensure that his son wins again and makes a hat-trick. Both the
father and son have been charge-sheeted in the so called HPCA scam in which
land was allotted to the cricketing body and if Dhumal and Thakur succeed, they
would have scored a victory in the people’s court.
Interestingly, it is a game of
chess in this constituency being played deftly by Virbhadra Singh. He chose
Rana as the candidate because he was earlier a close confidante of Dhumal and
as a Congress leader put it, “knows the weaknesses of BJP and its top leader
inside out.” Before Assembly elections in December 2012, Rana was an Associate
member of BJP, was denied a ticket and contested as an Independent and won from
Sujanpur. He soon shifted his loyalty to Singh, became an Associate member of
Congress supporting the Chief Minister. He resigned from the Assembly to get a
Congress Lok Sabha ticket. His wife Anita Rana is contesting from Sujanpur, the
seat he vacated after getting Congress ticket.
This subterfuge is not being
liked by the people of the constituency. Rana has taken a complete political
somersault in less than one and a half years from a supporter of BJP to an
independent and then from a supporter of Congress to an outright Congressman.
“This is political opportunism at its worst. Voters here are too clever to see
the game and they will teach him a lesson,” said, BJP supporter Devinder Thakur
in the make-shift party office in Una. His friend Ramesh Thakur adds, “Rana may
be popular in one constituency but Lok Sabha election is about 17 Assembly
segments”.
BJP has reasons to smile here.
Over the years, Dhumal has made it a bastion for the saffron party and since
1989 BJP has won eight elections, including bye-elections. What could be
another strong indicator of BJP hold is the fact that of the 17 Assembly
segments in this parliamentary constituency, the party holds on to 10 seats.
Dhumal has been telling the people of the constituency and the state that if
Congress does badly in the State, there is every chance of Virbhadra being
replaced. He tells the people to “punish” the Congress so that the vindictive
regime of the Raja comes to an end.
On the other hand, the Chief
Minister reminds the people about the “misdeeds” of Dhumal and his family and
tries to convince the people that they were involved in “land scam” and the
entire edifice of HPCA was built illegally.
Hamirpur seems to be the
laboratory of the feud between the two big political families of the State. On
one hand are Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, his wife Pratibha Singh and son
Vikramiditya Singh and on the other you have Leader of Opposition Dhumal and
his two sons — Anurag Thakur and Arun Dhumal. As the polling day approaches,
the BJP bastion seems to be consolidating behind the sitting MP. (May 6, 2014 )
No comments:
Post a Comment