Shimla, Feb 15,
In a surprising move, Former Congress Legislator and BJP leader from Chamba Harsh Mahajan moved nomination papers on the BJP ticket from Himachal Pradesh on Thursday against former RS member and Congress candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi in the race to one RS seat going vacant ( after retirement of BJP President JP Nadda ) next month.
Leader of the Opposition, Jai Ram Thakur, had provided some fillers yesterday while speaking to the media, stating that the party may not prefer the uncontested polling of the RS seat and is contemplating entering the electoral fray.
On Thursday morning BJP Legislators party meeting was held in the Opposition lobby informing its members of assembly that party high command has decided to give candidate and not allow to make the Congress party candidate elected unopposed.
Looked upon as a psychological game plan of the rightist party, observers stated that even though in the 68-member assembly Congress has a majority with 40 MLAs viz-a-viz to BJP which has 25, infighting of the grand old party is wide open in the public domain. Speculating defection they suspect that BJP may get the numbers required to win this contest.
Insiders point that Mahajan reportedly maybe in touch with eight Congress MLAs and three Independents has moved nomination papers on the last date of filling this morning before the assembly session.
Mahajan, who had remained the working president of the Congress party, quit little before the assembly polls in 2022 to join BJP. Mahajan, considered economically sound, has remained a Congress MLA from Chamba Assembly Constituency three times, winning consecutively in 1993, 1998, and 2003. Later in 2023, he had been elected to the BJP state core group.
On a chilly morning at this capital the State Politics has heat up with the BJP move. Though on the other hand this move of Saffron side is being looked upon by the Congress party as a opportunity to manage the house in order before they would have faced a debacle in the upcoming LS poll.
On Wednesday, the Congress party had announced Abhishek Manu Singhvi as their official candidate for the poll. Noteworthy that elections to 56 Rajya Sabha seats are scheduled across 15 states, of which Himachal Pradesh is one.
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