BJP’S HP list out, Shanta dropped, Anurag retained
LOK SABHA LIST Former CM’S protégé Kishan Kapoor gets Kangra ticket, Suresh Kashyap to contest from Shimla, while Anurag Thakur, Ram Swaroop to fight from Hamirpur and Mandi
SHIMLA: The BJP on Saturday dropped 84-year-old party veteran and former chief minister Shanta Kumar from Kangra and Shimla MP Virender Kashyap, while it retained Anurag Thakur from Hamirpur and Ram Swaroop Sharma from Mandi.
The party chose to replace an aging Shanta Kumar with his protégé and state transport minister Kishan Kapoor in politically sensitive Kangra. In Shimla, the party chose 49-year-old Suresh Kashyap in place of Virender Kashyap, 69.
Kapoor, 67, belongs to the tribal Gaddi (shepherd) community and was first elected to the Himachal Pradesh assembly in 1990. He was re-elected in 1993, 1998, 2007 and 2017 and serves as the state transport, tribal development and industries minister. He also holds the food and civil supplies portfolio. The Gaddi community is the dominant tribe in the four assembly constituencies of Chamba district and inhabits 10 assembly segments in Kangra district.
Despite the dilemma over the choice of candidate in Mandi, the BJP retained sitting Lok Sabha member Ram Swaroop Sharma, 60. He was a surprise pick in the 2014 elections when senior leaders refused to contest and he rode the Narendra Modi wave, trounc- ing Congress heavyweight Pratibha Singh, who is the wife of former chief minister Virbhadra Singh. Sharma’s candidature was backed by chief minister Jai Ram Thakur, who belongs to Seraj in Mandi district.
Former Union minister Sukh Ram’s grandson Aashray Sharma was also in the race for the ticket and his father, Anil Sharma, is state power minister. The party did not opt for Kargil war hero Brigadier Kushal Thakur (retd), who was among the frontrunners.
In Hamirpur, which is former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal’s bastion, the party relied on his elder son Anurag Thakur again.
Since he was first elected to Parliament in the 2008 by-election, it has been a dream run for the 44-year-old MP, seeking a fourth term.
In Shimla, the party replaced sitting MP Virender Kashyap with a younger Suresh Kumar Kashyap. Born in 1971, Suresh retired as a senior non-commissioned officer after serving in the Indian Air Force for 16 years.
He took a plunge into politics after retirement and remained a block development committee (BDC) member besides holding posts in the BJP’S Scheduled Caste Morcha. He was first elected to the assembly in 2012 and re-elected in 2017.