Crisis in Himachal Pradesh BJP; former RS member, vice-president of state unit Kirpal Parmar resigns from post

The countdown of the BJP-led Himachal Pradesh government seems to have started with a former Rajya Sabha Member and vice-president of the state unit of the party, Kirpal Parmar quitting from the post on Tuesday. The development came a day before the crucial core group meeting (scheduled for November 26) of the state BJP executive committee, called by the party leadership, to introspect the causes of its defeat in the bypolls and initiate corrective measures before the 2022 Assembly elections.

The resignation has also triggered a crisis in the party and there are apprehensions that more resignations could follow. Resignation by a senior BJP leader, who is considered a close associate of the BJP national president Jagat Prakash Nadda and former CM Prem Kumar Dhumal, has further raised doubts on the functioning of the party leadership. Parmar was denied the ticket for the assembly bypoll from Fatehpur in Kangra district. Similarly some other senior party leaders in Solan, Jubbal and Mandi, seeking tickets were dropped by the leadership causing much humiliation to them.

Parmar posted his resignation letter, addressed to state party president Suresh Kashyap, on Facebook. Taking to the Twitter, Parmar wrote : "I, Kripal Parmar, vice-president, Himachal BJP, am sending my resignation from the party post. Kindly accept it. I will explain the reason in separate letters." Parmar said that for the last four years, he had been continuously ignored in the BJP and he could no longer bear it. He said he was a true worker of the party and continued to work for it.

In the recently held bypolls in Himachal Pradesh, the BJP had fielded Baldev Thakur in Parmar's place on the Fatehpur assembly seat in Kangra district. He did not contest as an independent after Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur persuaded him, but he stayed away from the campaigning. Thakur lost the bypoll to the Congress' Bhawani Singh Pathania by more than 5,000 votes.

Earlier, former minister and sitting MLA from Jwalamukhi, Ramesh Dhawala had also aired his grouse against the dictatorial style of functioning of senior leaders and constant interfering in his constituency.