Congress gets a jolt as 26 leaders join rival BJP ahead of Himachal poll

In a setback for the Congress in Himachal Pradesh, as many as 26 leaders of the party joined the rival BJP with barely two days left for the assembly polls.

“This is the highest number of Congress leaders joining the BJP, after they realised that their future in the Congress will remain bleak” said Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, who was present at the time when these leaders took party membership.

Earlier to this , two sitting Congress MLAs – Pawan Kajal and Lakhwinder Rana had joined the BJP ahead of the elections while a three-time former MLA Rakesh Kalia joined hours before the Congress declared its list of candidates for November 12, ignoring his claim.

The worst jolt to the Congress was given by Harsh Mahajan, a PCC working president and former minister. Mahajan a prominent Congress leader in the state had been a very close confidant of former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, and he used to manage the entire election of the party under Virbhadra Singh.

“ There is nothing left in the Congress. It’s fort is crumbling. There is no leadership, no vision and no ideology. The way Prime Minister Narendra Modi had led the country and won the elections in the state is an example in itself” Mahajan told India Narrative .

Mahajan said the BJP will be forming the government in the state. The Congress is flogging a dead horse. Most issues which the party was raising have no relevance.

Mahajan says “ I have asked the Congress to stop fooling the people. The state neither have resources to meet additional financial burden on accountment of allurements like Rs 1500 pm for women or one lakh jobs, nor resource base of the state.”

Among 26 Congress leaders ,who quit the grand old party have announced to work and support BJP candidate Sanjay Sood from Shimla (Urban).

Among those who joined are former Congress general secretary Dharampal Thakur, former secretary Akash Saini, former councillor Rajan Thakur, former district vice president Amit Mehta, Mehar Singh Kanwar, Youth Congress president Rahul Negi, Jai Maa Shakti Social Sansthan president Joginder Thakur, Naresh Verma, Chamyana ward member Yogendra Singh, taxi union member Rakesh Chauhan, Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage Shimla president Dharmendra Kumar, Virendra Sharma, Rahul Rawat, Sonu Sharma, Arun Kumar, Shivam Kumar, and Gopal Thakur said Karan Nadda, BJP media incharge .

The Chief Minister said “the tradition of alternating the governments after five year will change this time. The double engine government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi leadership will ramp up the pace of development in the state. This being a special category state can’t survive without the Centre’s help. It’s the BJP government which can develop Himachal Pradesh, and all its regions”

A total 55,92,828 voters of the state will elect their 68 representatives among 412 candidates. Of the total voters, 28,54,945 are male electors, 27,37,845 female and 38 third gender voters.