The assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh are still a year away, but many in the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party admit that the recent bypoll results were a wake-up call for them and the cadres. Himachal remains in focus as it is not only the home state of senior minister in the Narendra Modi cabinet Anurag Thakur, but also BJP president JP Nadda.
Senior leaders in the party’s state unit pointed out that the bypoll debacle was discussed during the recently concluded national executive meeting of the BJP and the possibility of a cabinet rejig was also discussed, even though a change of chief minister—as has been seen recently in some poll-bound states ruled by the BJP—has been ruled out for now.
“Though the state unit has blamed the debacle squarely on price rise and inflation but the fact cannot be ignored that the BJP lost in one of its strongholds, which means a huge feeling of anti-incumbency against the ruling party and non- performance of a section of ministers,” said a senior cabinet minister of Himachal Pradesh.
Questions are being raised on the roles of education ministers Govind Thakur and Ram Lal Markanda, who could not manage leads from their assembly segments of Manali and Lahaul and Spiti, respectively, signalling people’s anger over their non-performance and anti-incumbency. Losing the Mandi Lok Sabha seat, a bastion of chief minister Jai Ram Thakur, has ensured that the BJP and its national leadership will need to do a serious rethink if they intend to retain the Himalayan state.
“The fact that the Congress got the lead in nine of the 17 assembly segments that form part of the Mandi Lok Sabha constituency indicates growing resentment against the BJP in the state. In the previous parliamentary elections in 2019, the Congress had failed to get a lead even from a single segment,” said a senior BJP leader. He admitted that apart from the sympathy factor towards late Congress stalwart Virbhadra Singh, local issues like rising unemployment and disgruntlement among apple growers for getting low prices for their produce did play a crucial role and that cannot be ignored.
Leaders in the local BJP unit are not ruling out a possible cabinet rejig, which means showing the door to some non-performing cabinet ministers as well.
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