Himachal Pradesh bypolls | Internal rift costs BJP Dehra and Nalagarh seats: Report

Congress winning the Dehra Assembly seat against BJP's Hoshyar Singh Chambyal in the bypolls has put the saffron party in a fix.

With Kamlesh Thakur, wife of CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, winning the Dehra Assembly seat in Himachal Pradesh, the Congress finally opened its account there after 25 years. This development left the BJP in a fix as the party had fielded former Independent MLA Hoshyar Singh Chambyal, ignoring one of its own leader.

In a rather quick decision, the BJP, ignoring claims from veteran party leader and former minister Ramesh Chand Dhawala, who was interested in contesting the bypoll, declared Hoshyar Singh's candidature, along with two former Independent MLAs who had joined the party following their resignation from the Vidhan Sabha.

In the year 2022, Hoshyar Singh had defeated Ramesh Chand Dhawala in the Assembly elections. Previously, in the 2017 Assembly elections, Hoshyar had defeated another former BJP minister and a powerful Rajput leader, Ravinder Singh Ravi.

Dhawala and Ravi did not campaign for Hoshyar Singh, which may have costed BJP the Dehra seat, according to The Indian Express.

Despite being upset about not getting ticket to contest for the seat, Dhawala was ready to campaign for Hoshyar if the party leadership had approached him, the publication said. However, he eventually did not campaign for Hoshyar, which indicated that the party high command ignored him later as well, it added.

The BJP also lost the Nalagarh seat, which Congress' Hardeep Singh Bawa won against the saffron party's KL Thakur, as a result of the rebellion from within the party, the IE said.

BJP leader Harpreet Singh Saini, who was denied the party ticket, rebelled and contested as an Independent candidate. He secured 13,025 votes, thus reducing BJP’s vote share.

"Although the party wanted to act tough against Harpreet Singh Saini, he was favored by Thakur who was in complete favor of him contesting as an Independent candidate," the publication said quoting a BJP leader.