Talks on to curb rebellion in Himachal BJP: Former CM Jai Ram Thakur

Shimla: Anger among leaders during allocation of tickets is normal in elections and the BJP is trying to resolve the matter through talks, said former chief minister and leader of the opposition Jai Ram Thakur on Wednesday.

Referring to the rebellion in the BJP after the party high command gave ticket to six Congress rebels who had voted in favour of the BJP in the Rajya Sabha elections last month and joined the BJP on March 23, he said the party has interacted with several party workers and leaders to find a solution to the issue.

People do get angry in times of elections and talks are on, he told mediapersons in Kullu, claiming that the matter would be resolved soon.

"We are trying to convey our side to them. We are trying to contact them and ask them to rethink their decision," he said.

Former Himachal Pradesh minister and BJP leader from Lahaul and Spiti assembly constituency, Ram Lal Markanda, had on Tuesday quit the party to protest the fielding of Congress rebel Ravi Thakur who had defeated him on the seat in the last assembly election.

The BJP had on Tuesday named Congress rebels Ravi Thakur from Lahaul and Spiti, Sudhir Sharma from Dharamshala, Rajinder Rana from Sujanpur, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal from Barsar, Chetanya Sharma from Gagret and Devinder Kumar Bhutto from Kutlehar.

All office-bearers of the BJP's Lahaul and Spiti block unit also resigned against the party's decision and pledged support to Markanda, saying they will support him in the byelection.

Markanada was the agriculture and tribal development minister during the previous BJP government led by Jai Ram Thakur. He had lost the 2022 assembly elections to Ravi Thakur, who was then in the Congress, by a margin of 1542 votes.

"I have left the BJP today along with my supporters and would definitely contest the assembly polls," he had told PTI over the phone.

"I will contest the assembly bypolls for sure. There is a possibility of my contesting from the Congress party," he had said.

The Himachal Pradesh Assembly bypolls will be held on June 1, along with the election to the four Lok Sabha seats in the state -- Hamirpur, Shimla, Mandi and Kangra.

Talking to PTI, BJP leader and former rural development and panchayati raj minister Virender Kanwar has also expressed his displeasure over the party picking Congress rebel Devinder Kumar Bhutto, a first-time MLA from Kutlehar, in his place and said that the decision should be reviewed.

"The party is above everything but the people of my constituency are disappointed and want that the decision of the party should be reviewed by conducting a fresh survey on popularity in the area. Bhutto worked like a dictator in the past 15 months and has lost the goodwill of the people," he had added.

Ranjit Singh of the BJP, who lost to Rajendra Rana of the Congress in the 2022 assembly polls by a margin of 399 votes, has announced to contest as Independent.

He said, "In the Lok Sabha elections, I will support BJP candidate Union Minister Anurag Singh Thakur but in the byelections, I will contest as an Independent candidate." Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu had also said on Tuesday that some BJP leaders including Markanda and Rakesh Kalia from Gagret are in contact with the Congress.

Both Markanda and Kalia had lost the 2022 assembly elections.

All the six Congress MLA who were disqualified for defying a whip to vote in favor of the government during the cut motions and the budget had joined the BJP along with the three Independent MLAs.

These nine MLAS had voted in favour of BJP nominee Harsh Mahajan in the Rajya Sabha elections held in the state on February 27, triggering a crisis for the Congress-led government in the state.

With the disqualification of the six Congress MLAs, the strength of the ruling party has come down from 40 to 34, including the Speaker who can vote only in the case of a tie during a floor test, in the 68-member assembly. The BJP has 25 members in the House.