Big Blow To Congress Before Himachal Elections, 26 Leaders Join BJP
Himachal Pradesh, 8th November 2022: The Congress has suffered a major setback in the Himachal Pradesh assembly elections. Just four days before the polling, 26 Congress leaders, including former state Congress Committee general secretary Dharampal Thakur Khand, joined the ruling BJP on Monday. The hill state of Himachal Pradesh has a total of 68 assembly seats. Voting will be held in only one phase in Himachal. Votes for this will be cast on November 12 and the counting of votes will take place on December 8.
All these 26 Congress leaders joined BJP in the presence of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur and BJP’s state election in-charge Sudhan Singh. BJP candidate from Shimla, Sanjay Sood, was also present on the occasion.
Those who joined hands with BJP include former general secretary of Congress Dharampal Thakur, former secretary Akash Saini, former councillor Rajan Thakur, former district vice president Amit Mehta, Meher Singh Kanwar, Youth Congress Rahul Negi, Jai Maa Shakti Social Sansthan President Joginder Thakur, Naresh Verma, Chamyana Ward member Yogendra Singh, Taxi Union member Rakesh Chauhan, President of Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage Shimla Dharmendra Kumar, Virendra Sharma, Rahul Rawat, Sonu Sharma, Arun Kumar, Shivam Kumar, and Gopal Thakur.
Others who switched sides with him include Chaman Lal, District Congress Committee secretary Devendra Singh, Mahendra Singh, former Youth Congress general secretary Munish Mandla, Balkrishna Bobby, Sunil Sharma, Surendra Thakur, Sandeep Samta and Ravi. Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur warmly welcomed all the new BJP workers.
He said, “Let us work together for the historic victory of the BJP. Earlier, BJP National President JP Nadda expressed confidence in the victory of the party ahead of the Himachal Assembly elections and said that the people of the state trust Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”
During this, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur tweeted and said, “The custom is changing. Today, many colleagues, including former office bearers of the Congress party of Shimla, left the Congress party and joined the BJP. A hearty welcome to all of you in the BJP family. Come, BJP, let’s work in solidarity for historic victory”
It is noteworthy that in Himachal Pradesh, for the past several decades, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress have been alternately getting a chance to stay in power for five years each. This time too, the party’s hopes are pinned on it.
In the 2017 assembly elections, the BJP got 44 seats and the Congress 21 in the 68-member assembly, with the ruling party getting 48.8 percent and the oldest party getting 41.7 percent of the votes. In 2012, Congress won the assembly elections by winning 36 seats, and BJP got only 26 seats.
