Nadda rushes to placate Shanta

DHARAMSHALA: Amid growing discontent among ticket seekers in Himachal BJP, Union health minister Jagat Prakash Nadda rushed to Palampur on Wednesday to meet Shanta Kumar, the veteran saffron party leader.

Kumar is said to be miffed after some of his loyalists were denied tickets.

Sources in BJP said Nadda has been assigned the duty to placate a sulking Kumar, who is a force to be reckoned with in Kangra district.

Nadda, who arrived at Palampur in the morning, held a marathon two-hour closed-door meeting with Kumar at the latter’s residence. The meeting assumes significance — if Kumar opts out of the election campaign, it may hit BJP’S campaign in Kangra and consequently the mission to wrest power from Congress.

Kumar was a member of state election committee and also attended the meeting of central election panel headed by BJP national president Amit Shah.

But the party did not consider candidates of his choice. Kumar was pushing for ticket to his loyalist Parveen Sharma from Palampur assembly segment, the former’s home turf. However, fielded Indu Goswami, state chief of BJP’S women’s wing — Bharatiya Janata Mahila Morcha — from there.

Apart from Sharma, Kumar’s close confidant, Kishan Kapoor, also lost the ticket race. Kapoor, a Gaddi leader, represented Dharamshala for four terms. He also served two terms as minister in the Prem Kumar Dhumal-led BJP regime. Kapoor lost to Congress’s Sudhir Sharma in the 2012 polls.

This has led to a 2012-like situation for BJP, when the party lost power due to infighting, particularly in Kangra, where many leaders who were denied tickets contested as independents.