Himachal assembly bypolls: Congress appoints in-charges for 3 assembly seats going to polls
The three Independent MLAs -- Ashish Sharma (Hamirpur), Hoshiyar Singh (Dehra) and KL Thakur (Nalagarh) -- resigned from the assembly on March 22 and joined the BJP the following day. Himachal agriculture minister Chander Kumar has been appointed in-charge of Dehra seat, education minister Rohit Thakur for Nalagarh and technical education minister Rajesh Dharmani for Hamirpur.
Himachal Pradesh Congress general secretary Rajneesh Kimta on Thursday said the party is fully prepared for the July 10 assembly byelections in the state and will face “money power” with unity.
In a statement released in Shimla, he said that the Congress has appointed three ministers as in-charges for the byelections to Dehra, Nalagarh and Hamirpur assembly seats.
The three Independent MLAs -- Ashish Sharma (Hamirpur), Hoshiyar Singh (Dehra) and KL Thakur (Nalagarh) -- resigned from the assembly on March 22 and joined the BJP the following day.
State agriculture minister Chander Kumar has been appointed in-charge of Dehra seat, education minister Rohit Thakur for Nalagarh and technical education minister Rajesh Dharmani for Hamirpur.
The Congress leaders have been alleging that nine MLAs, including six Congress rebels, and the three Independents who voted in favour of the BJP in the Rajya Sabha elections on February 27 and the BJP tried to topple the government by using money.
Kimta said the party has won four seats in the recent assembly byelections, which proves that the people of Himachal Pradesh are happy with the policies, programmes and leadership of the Congress government and the voters have rejected the horse-trading politics of the BJP.
He said that in the upcoming bypolls, the Congress will unitedly face the unethical tactics of the BJP and emerge victorious.
The BJP had on Wednesday appointed in-charges for these three seats.
The BJP state party chief, Rajiv Bindal, had appointed in-charges, and co-in-charges for the three assemblies byelections in Hamirpur, Dehra and Solan.
Bindal said that former minister and MLA Sukhram Chaudhary will be in charge of the Nalagarh assembly constituency, with Rajya Sabha MP and state general secretary Sikandar Kumar as convener. Co-in-charge will be former minister and party vice-president Rajiv Saizal and co-convener MLA and spokesperson Balbir Verma.
Former speaker Vipin Singh Parmar has been appointed in charge of Dehra, while former minister and MLA Bikram Thakur will be co-in charge. MLA Rakesh Jamwal will be the convener in Dehra and Kangra MLA Pawan Kajal, the co-convener.
Naina Devi MLA Randhir Sharma will be in charge and Bilaspur MLA Trilok Jamwal will be co-in-charge in Hamirpur, Bihari Lal Sharma, convener, and MLA Dilip Thakur co-convener.