Cong sees rift in BJP after Bindal’s elevation

Kuldeep Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, January 19

The state Congress today termed Rajiv Bindal’s elevation as the new state BJP chief a “morale booster for the sagging fortunes of the Congress.” It said the announcement had unleashed a factional fight among ambitious leaders of the party.

Rathore was referring to a video shot during the the BJP president election that showed Union minister and Hamirpur MP Anurag Singh Thakur ignoring a handshake with Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur. He first ignored the CM and went a step ahead to hug Bindal. Later, he just shook hands with the CM in a passing manner, leaving the latter embarrassed.

Though the BJP IT cell tried its best to make the complete video available on social media, the episode was “indecent” and had become a talk of the town, said the Congress leader.

“The video of the function has gone viral on social media and people are trolling the episode. It is the beginning of the end of BJP’s 55-seat dream in the 2022 state Assembly elections,” said Rathore.

He said infighting among the ambitious leaders of the BJP had already come out in public domain. “BJP’s dream of romping home 55 seats will end as a pipe dream. People of Himachal have evaluated the performance of the party at the Centre and the state,” he said.

Not only this, the “anti-Bindal baiters in the BJP” have also started comparing Bindal with a similar elevation of the late Gian Chand Tutu, also from Solan, as the state Congress chief in 1990.

After Tutu’s elevation, the Congress was reduced to less than a dozen seats in the Assembly elections and the BJP had swept the state polls for the second time. Tutu and Bindal are termed as “outsiders” by the son-of-soil proponents within both BJP and the Congress.

The Congress leader also took a dig at Bindal’s list of achievements as a minister, Speaker and RSS worker, which he released yesterday, and said it had been exaggerated. “Bindal’s agenda is ambitious as he has presented himself and his entire family as dedicated RSS supporters. This may overshadow the rest of the BJP leaders, including Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, working president JP Nadda and Anurag Thakur, all leaders who are out to outmanoeuvre one another,” said Rathore.

He said the prices of commodities had gone through the roof, economy was ruined and people had come to know that the BJP was diverting their attention from real issues by bringing in the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and creating a Hindu-Muslim rift.

The Congress said they would wait for the right opportunity to expose the real face of the BJP, including other “seamy side of its new chief”.