Shimla: Despite victory in Himachal Pradesh Assembly Elections, BJP is in the state of confusion after internal fight intensified over CM suspense.
The members of Himachal Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) held a protest while a meeting of the party central observers Nirmala Sitharaman and Narendra Singh Tomar was underway, saying that the next chief minister should be chosen from the elected MLAs and that there should be no lobbying.
This comes in the wake of Prem Kumar Dhumal, who has been the state’s chief minister for two full terms, being considered as the front-runner for the state’s top post once again, despite losing on the Sujanpur seat in the recently-held Assembly polls.
According to the report published in Catch News, many people of the State and a major section of the BJP workers and supporters believe that Dhumal became a victim of the trap. They also think that this trap was laid by the leadership of the party who do not want him to become the CM of Himachal Pradesh. Supports of Dhumal also gave an example of Union Finance Minister, Mr. Arun Jaitley.
To counter the protest, Dhumal’s supporters also took to the streets and raised slogans outside the venue of Core Committee meeting in Shimla.
Among the newly-elected MLAs, five-time lawmaker Jairam Thakur is also being seen as a contender for the chief ministerial post, along with Union Minister JP Nadda.
The suspense over the new HP chief minister continued as the two-member team of central observers returned to New Delhi after consultations with senior state leaders but without holding a formal meeting of the newly elected MLAs.
Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman, Narendra Singh Tomar, and Himachal Pradesh BJP affairs in charge Mangal Pandey met senior HP BJP leaders at Peterhoff. The observers avoided meeting media persons and left without giving any hint about the name of the next HP CM
In the recently held Assembly polls, BJP stood victorious in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections with 44 seats, while the Congress acquired 20 seats in the total 68 constituencies.
With inputs from ANI/PTI