LS poll: Rathore rushes to Kangra

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, February 8

The new state president of HPCC Kuldeep Rathore yesterday visited Kangra, the politically most significant district of the state. This was Rathore’s first visit as state Congress chief after taking over from Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu. Rathore’s visit holds significance as the Congress is in the process of finalizing its candidates for the forthcoming parliamentary elections.

During his one-day visit, Rathore addressed political workers in Dharamsala, the Assembly constituency of former minister Sudhir Sharma, and Nagrota Bagwan, the Assembly constituency of former minister and senior Congress leader GS Bali. Though both the leaders have not formally applied for party ticket, they are seen as main contenders from the Kangra parliamentary constituency and the HPCC president was there to strike a balance between the two.

During the political rallies supporters of both the leaders did not leave any stone unturned to impress upon the HPCC president to give party ticket to their respective leader.

While Rathore spent the morning hours with Sudhir Sharma, in the evening he was closeted with GS Bali at his residence. Many former MLAs and office bearers of the Congress from Kangra and other areas were present at the dinner hosted by Bali for Rathore.

When asked if the leaders who had not applied for the party ticket would be considered by the party as candidates in the forthcoming parliamentary polls, Rathore said a decision would only be taken by the party high command.

When asked about Abhishek Rana, son of Congress MLA from Sujjanpur, Rajinder Rana, who was already campaigning as party candidate from Hamirpur parliamentary constituency, Rathore said that since Abhishek was a member of the Youth Congress he can campaign. Regarding his candidature from Hamirpur parliamentary constituency, he said that it would again be decided by the high command.

At present, the Kangra parliamentary constituency was being represented by former Chief Minister and veteran BJP leader Shanta Kumar. He had won last parliamentary elections with a record margin of about 1.70 lakhs.

Winning Kangra parliamentary constituency in view of the lead the BJP secured from the area in last elections will be an uphill task for the Congress more so, given the fact that the BJP presently has 11 MLAs from Kangra in the present government.

Ensuring harmony in the divided house in Kangra will be a challenge for the new HPCC president.

Some of the leaders, who have formally applied for the Congress ticket from Kangra parliamentary constituency include former MP Chander Kumar and Dr Rajesh Sharma, who recently joined the Congress.