Himachal BJP unhappy with entry of Sukh Ram family ahead of Himachal polls

The desperation of the BJP in Himachal Pradesh was made clear this week when it inducted former union cabinet minister Sukh Ram and his son Anil Sharma, a minister in the outgoing Congress government led by Virbhadra Singh, just weeks before the hill state heads to the polls.

The move is not being looked upon favourably by members of the saffron party at the local level. The resentment has led to several leaders emailing their resignations.

“There is resentment on two counts. The first is that the BJP's national president Amit Shah totally bypassed the Himachal unit of the party to bring them into the party. Nobody had an inkling of what was going on till the time Anil Sharma's arrival was announced in Delhi," said a senior media person.

"More so, over the last several months, there was a system being followed on the a party committee screening candidates and even those joining the party. The committee was supposed to suggest three names for finalisation of a candidate for every constituency. All that has gone for a toss. With the party giving tickets to parachute candidates with political clout, what is the difference between the BJP and the Congress? Its pure opportunism at work,” he added.

Politically, it appears the BJP took this step with a view to appease the powerful Pandit lobby in the belt. “It has its benefits, but not when your own cadre is up in arms against it. The party will not be able to campaign on the issue of corruption now,” says a senior media person based in Shimla.

According to sources within the party, there is a lot of resentment over the way everything is now being centralised in the BJP and how the voices and opinions of local leaders are being completely ignored.

“The second factor at play is that the local BJP Leaders in Mandi are agitated over the fact that their party has imported the Congress leaders against whom they have been agitating and complaining all this while of harassing the BJP workers. They cannot take orders from these leaders who have come from the Congress,” said the observer.

It is the same building resentment that has stalled the entry of GS Bali, another minister in the Virbhadra cabinet, into the BJP. It has also delayed the declaration of candidates by the BJP.

At the same time, there is a point of view that the BJP did not have a heavyweight leader in Mandi. “It is true that the induction is not to the liking of the panchayat and town level leaders. But the BJP knows that it is very difficult to defeat the Sukh Ram family on its home turf,” says local resident Mohinder Sharma.