BJP relying on youngsters, may remove old horses

Shimla: Ruling BJP schedule to declare candidates for all 68 Assembly seats on Tuesday relying on the youngsters and is likely to remove many old horses from the fray.
The party parliamentary board has deliberated to at least remove five ministers and dozens of sitting MLAs to counter anti- incumbency against state government. The epicenter of political activities currently is confined to Himachal Pradesh Bhavan in Delhi where party think tanks are burning midnight lamps to finalize the list.
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, Party new candidate Rakesh Jamwal, Industry Minister Vikram Singh and Satpal Singh Sati may file nomination papers tomorrow for Seeraj (at Thunag), Bilaspur, Jaswana Pragpur and Una respectively.
Party may put young turks from Shimla urban, Kasouli, Dharmpur, Lahaul-Spiti and Nurpur removing old horses from the race. Party couldn’t have any response from former Chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal to be in fray from Hamirpur or Sujanpur yet.
Some of the oldies who are aspirant to be in fray have been asked to fight from Kasumpti and Solan from Congresss bastions. BJP may surprise voters of Shimla urban and rural, Theog, Solan, Jubbal Kotkhai , Kasouli and Lahaul-Spiti and Nurpur by preferring youngesters vis a vis to sitting MLA and Ministers.
Delay in decision of tickets is also being attributed due to stiff challenge before ruling party of rebellion and infighting. Some of old horses who may not be in the fray include Gulab Singh Thakur from Joginder Nagar, Mohinder Singh Thakur from Dharmpur, Suresh Bhardwaj from Shimla, Prem Kumar Dhumal form Sujanpur, Rajiv Sahjal from Kasouli, Ram Lal Markanda (Lahaul-Spiti), Subhash Thakur (Bilaspur) Parmod Sharma (Shimla rural) and Rakesh Pathania (Nurpur)). Party have given nods to Jai Ram Thakur from Seeraj, Bikram Singh from Jaswana Pragpur, Verinder Kanwar from Baijnath, Satpal Singh Sati from Una, Rajiv Bindal from Nahan, Baldev Tomar (Shilai) Reena Kashyap (Pachhad), Joyti Vijay Sen (Kasumpti), Ramesh Dhawala from Dehra Gopipur and Ravinder Ravi from Jwalamukhi, Vikram Jaryal from Bhatyiat, Dr Janak Raj from Bharmour. Congresss party is still relying on old guards as it has put former party president Kuldeep Singh Rathore from Theog, Rohit Thakur from Jubbal Kotkhai, Jagat Singh Negi from Kinnaur, Nand Lal from Rampur, Mohan Lal Bragta from Rohru, Rajnish Khimta from Chopal, Vikramaditya Singh from Rural Shimla, Dr D R Shandil from Solan, Sanjay Awasthi from Arki, Ramkumar from Doon, Vinod Sultanapuri from Kasouli, Harshvardhan Chauhan from Shilai, Vinay Kumar from Renukaji, Kaul Singh Thakur from Darang, Ram Lal Thakur from Ghumerwin, Mukesh Agnihotri from Haroli, Satpal Raizada from Una, Rakesh Kalia from Chintpurni, Thakur Sen Bharmori from Bharmour. Both parties are yet to declare their final list by this evening. There are more than one choices on the other seats. BJP have 43 members in 68-member state assembly, Congress 22 , Independent two and CPI(M) one.
The state would go to polls on November 12 in single phase on all the seats and counting of votes would be done on December 8. (UNI)