Fence sitters switching sides ahead of polls in HP
3 min read
Shimla, Oct 26 – The fence-sitters and turn coats are switching sides again ahead of assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh. The 85-yr old Vijay Singh Mankotia joined the BJP yesterday in presence of BJP president Jagat Prakash Nadda but he was not able to file a nomination from any political party. Mankotia reportedly made a futile attempt to compromise with AAP recently. Being a leader of Ex-servicemen, he was not comfortable with the funding pattern of AAP, which he doubted of receiving pro-Khalistani funding. Mankotia after making their debut in Congress finally joined BJP. Harsh Mahajan, a former Congress Minister and MLA also joined BJP recently at Delhi, but the party didn’t put him into an electoral battle. Mahajan was considered close to Holy Lodge’s leaders Virbhadra Singh and Pratibha Singh. He was formerly working as president of Congress. There are reports that Harsh Mahajan was facing a serious matter which forced him to join the ruling BJP to get favour from central agencies. He helped BJP to quit more than a dozen youth Congress leaders to join BJP. Rakesh Kalia from Gagret area of Una district who is the chief trusty of Chintpurni Shrine also fought and won Assembly Election from Chintpurni twice and once from Gagret also joined BJP. BJP which is expecting to win only two seats from the district likely has some hope now. Another turncoat from Mandi district was Son of the former late Union Minister. Sukh Ram Anil Sharma who was a fence seater since 2019 as his son Hardya Sharma fought Lok Sabha Election on a Congress ticket. He not only lost the LS election but BJP also took away the Çabinet berth of Anil Sharma. Interesting Anil Sharma was going to fight on BJP ticket making a U-turn again. Sharma is two time Congress MLA and one-time BJP MLA. These leaders also changed the party. At the end of the nomination, former Congress leader and Shahpur MLA Major Vijay Mankotia also joined BJP. Aditya Vikram Sen has also joined BJP after not getting a ticket from Kullu. ‘Former, BJP leader Gaurav Sharma also joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), but he recently joined the party and was now denied a ticket from Shimla Urban but rebelled against AAP. A close aide of Virbhadra Singh and spokesperson SS Jotga also joined AAP with the ambition of ticket. Jogta back again to Congress after not getting much preference in AAP. The 56 six leaders of the state Surendra Kaku, Lakhwinder Rana, Pawan Kajal, Khimiram and Dayal Pyari have got the tag of defection, but they have also managed to win the trust of the party in which they have joined. Some of the leaders who have left the party are being trolled on social media. People are telling them about opportunities. Especially the IT cell of political parties are writing against the leaders leaving the party. Similarly, Indu Verma in Theog in film style, Ashish Sharma in Kullu entered in Congress, but if the party does not give tickets to the last two and both are in the fray as independent candidates. Hoshiyar Singh of Dehra joined BJP recently but now he quit the ruling party for denying tickets to him. Balbir Verma sitting MLA of BJP from Theog also remained associate member of Congress during Virbhadra Singh government also joined BJP in 2017 and is in the fray from Chopal for third term. Congress party also gave tickets to Khimi Ram, Hatish Janarth who remained a rebel candidate from Shimla for the last two terms however he joined the party during Assembly Election. Hatish Janarth like Harash Mahajan was a blue-eyed leader who always enjoyed a good relationship with the Congress party. Harish Janarth despite fighting the Election against a Congress candidate succeeded. Himachal Pradesh goes to poll on November 12 and the counting of votes would be held on December 8. Since getting state hoods in 1971 Congress and BJP is sharing power after a gap of five years. Six times chief minister Virbhadra Singh who died a year ago could reverse this trend.
