Election fever grips Himachal Pradesh

Election fever is slowly but surely gripping Himachal Pradesh, which goes to the polls next year to elect members to its assembly.

Making the first move and encouraged by the unprecedented success of the Gujarat Gaurav Yatra of Narendra Modi, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal launched Vishwas Yatra on Monday.

The Congress in response came up with a show of unity with rival leaders, Virbhadra Singh, Congress Legislature Party leader and former chief minister, and Vidya Stokes, state unit chief, sharing the platform. They said that the party would not project anyone as the chief ministerial candidate.

But efforts to paper over dissidence in the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and opposition Congress seems to have come to a zilch.

While the Congress expelled former legislator Manjeet Singh Dogra, Kuldeep Singh Pathania and Shonkia Ram for indiscipline, the BJP expelled former minister Mohinder Sofat and former Hamirpur district unit president for organising a meeting of the rebels.

The Congress, later, tried to make amend by revoking the expulsion of Kuldeep Singh and Shonkia Ram.

The BJP state unit is clearly split into factions led by Dhumal and Union Minister Shanta Kumar with their traditional rivalry amplified by the issue of delimitation of assembly constituencies.

In fact, senior BJP leader Kamal Padha was suspended for targeting Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal to protest the working paper circulated by the Delimitation Commission.

The delimitation proposals have virtually split the BJP with Shanta Kumar resenting the Commission's reported move to reduce the number of constituencies in Kangra region, the home town of the Union minister, from 18 to 15.

A majority of the Kangra MLAs and other prominent leaders of the region have rallied behind Kumar and described the Commission's move as a conspiracy to cut Kumar and his loyalists to size.

Though the process of delimitation was deferred following protests, Shanta Kumar minced no words in criticising the government. Santosh Shailja, wife of Shanta Kumar, also issued a strongly worded statement blaming the government for "humiliating" her husband and alleged manipulations in the delimitation draft.

A move to create new districts was also put on hold after a bitter controversy in the BJP and a letter from the Delimitation Commission directing the government not to alter the existing administrative units.