Kangra BJP ticket for Gaddi leader sought

Our Correspondent

Palampur, November 28

Senior BJP leader and state Gaddi union president Sanjay Kapoor has urged BJP president Amit Shah and party state president Satpal Satti to allot party ticket to a Gaddi candidate from Kangra parliamentary constituency in the Lok Sabha elections next year.

Addressing mediapersons here, Sanjay Kapoor, along with Gaddi leaders Vijay Bhatt, Gurmukh Singh, Madan Bharmori and Sanjay Jaryal said the Gaddi union had decided to recommend the name of Trilok Kapoor, vice-president, All-India Tribal Morcha, for the Kangra parliamentary constituency.

They said Trilok Kapoor was well educated and had been in politics for the past 15 years. He was the most appropriate candidate and had good chance of winning the seat. They said the Gaddi community had supported the BJP since 1980.

The BJP ticket was never given to a Gaddi candidate despite the fact that the community had a sizeable number of voters. The Gaddi community holds key to a direct political battle between the BJP and the Congress. He said the Gaddis had a major vote share in Kangra and Chamba districts with a total population of 3 lakh.

“Though we make for around 7 per cent of the total population, in government records, the population of Gaddis is shown very low. Gaddi is not a caste, it’s a community which includes people from upper and lower castes,” said Kapoor.

“Our community has a vote share of around 30 per cent in Baijnath constituency, 28 per cent in Palampur, 30 per cent in Dharamsala and around 10 per cent in Shahpur,” he said.