‘King’ vs ‘Queen’: Cong fields royal against Kangana
SHIMLA: The stage is set for a battle royale in Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi Lok Sabha seat as the Congress has pitted state minister Vikramaditya Singh, the titular king of the erstwhile princely state of Bushahr, against BJP candidate and actor Kangana Ranaut.
Himachal Pradesh PWD Minister Vikramaditya Singh is the son of six-time chief minister Virbhadra Singh and Pratibha Singh, the sitting MP from Mandi and the Congress’ state unit president.
Historically, the Mandi constituency has favoured scions of erstwhile princely states, electing royals in 13 out of 19 elections, including two bypolls since 1952.
Vikramaditya Singh, the two-time MLA from the Shimla (rural) assembly segment, is not new in the parliamentary constituency as his father and mother each won the seat thrice. In the 2021 Lok Sabha bypoll to the seat, Singh had campaigned extensively for his mother.
Even before his candidature was announced, Vikramaditya Singh was involved in a spat with the actor-politician of Bollywood film ‘Queen’ fame with neither pulling any punches. While Singh had termed Ranaut “queen of controversies”, the BJP’s Mandi candidate indirectly termed the state minister as “Chota Pappu”.
Last Thursday, Ranaut launched a blistering attack on Vikramaditya Singh, and said, “Yeh tumhare baap-dada ki riyasat nahin hai, ke tum mujhe dara, dhamka ke vapis bhej doge (This is not the estate of your father or grandfather that you will threaten me and send me back).
The BJP candidate’s retaliation came in response to Vikramaditya Singh’s jibe a few days earlier about her reported comments over beef-eating.
“I pray to Lord Ram to give her wisdom and hope she goes back pure from ‘Dev Bhoomi’ Himachal to Bollywood because she will not win the elections as she knows nothing about the people of Himachal,” Singh had said.
“I have made my name in the film industry without the help of my father and mother... I want to join politics and serve the people,” she said and asserted that politics is an expression of service and anyone from a king to a beggar is entitled to that expression.