SAFFRON LIST: DHUMAL EMERGES STRONGER
NEWDELHI: The BJP on Wednesday cleared the cloud over its “face” in Himachal Pradesh with its list of candidates that figured former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, 73. “The list has a message (of Dhumal emerging stronger),” a senior BJP functionary said.
“This message will have a reflection in the campaign for the November 9 polling.”
At least two senior BJP leaders claimed that a formal announcement about Dhumal being the ”face” will be made in due course.
The list was announced four days after the BJP’s central election committee meeting on Saturday. It was stuck in a tug of war between political rivals, which triggered a fresh round of consultations among central BJP leaders on various issues, such as ticket to loyalists and the chief ministerial candidate.
Dhumal faced competition from Union health minister JP Nadda, a Rajya Sabha member. But Nadda has been kept out of the assembly poll list. Electing a non-MLA as a chief minister in a small state with 68 legislators has its own risks. This could work against Nadda, a Brahmin leader who faces strong opposition from the dominant Thakur leaders.
Former chief minister Shanta Kumar is 83 and has passed the undeclared age bar of 75 years that the BJP has for its leaders to take up ministerial positions.
A section of the BJP considered RSS leader Ajay Jamwal, BJP’s in-charge of northeast operations, as the dark horse for the chief minister’s post. His current RSS responsibility, however, proved a stumbling block. An RSS ‘pracharak’ has to take a three-year break from his assignment in the Sangh before taking up a political post.
Wednesday’s list of candidates dropped four sitting MLAs, gave tickets to four turncoat MLAs, and has about 10% women candidates.