Lok Sabha polls: Suresh Chandel’s joining Congress makes BJP’s fight tougher in Himachal Pradesh

After much friction, the disgruntled BJP leader and former president of Himachal Pradesh unit of the party Suresh Chandel finally shifted his loyalty to the Indian National Congress on Monday. He is a three-times MP from Hamirpur parliamentary constituency.

Accompanied by the Congress in charge for Himachal Pradesh, Rajni Patil and state party chief Kuldeep Singh Rathore, Chandel, along with his son joined the Congress in the presence of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) national president Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi.

Being a prominent public figure, Chandel successfully contested in the 1998, 1999, 2004 Lok Sabha elections from Hamirpur seat and was a member of the BJP.

He was also the state president of Himachal BJP from 1998-2000 and the Organisation General Secretary of the Himachal BJP from 1988-1998.

He is presently the National Vice-President of BJP Kisan Morcha and governing body member of the Indian council of Agriculture Research.

Belonging to the Rajput community from the Bilaspur district, Chandel has a strong hold in the assembly segments of the Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat which is clearly going to benefit the Congress in this general election. As a BJP candidate, Chandel defeated Maj. Gen Bikram Singh, the Congress Candidate, with over 77,000 votes in the 1998 Lok Sabha elections and subsequently he won the 1999 election by defeating the Congress candidate by nearly 13,000 votes. In his consecutive third win, Chandel defeated Ram Lal Thakur, state industry minister, with a margin of just 1,625 votes in 2004.

His successive wins elevated Chanel’s stature in state and national politics besides causing heartburn to certain senior BJP leaders in Himachal Pradesh.  But his political career shortly suffered a major setback after Chandel’s name figured in the “Cash-for-Query” scam.

Side-lined by the party for over a decade, Chandel was feeling suffocated, harassed and victimised in the BJP and finally switched over to the Congress amidst controversy. He was in touch with the senior Congress leaders in New Delhi and Himachal Pradesh for quite some time and was seeking a Congress ticket to contest in the 2019 Lok Sabha election against BJP candidate Anurag Singh Thakur, a three-time MP from Hamirpur, who is also the son of the former state Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal.

Chandel’s alleged involvement in the “Cash-for-Query” scam also provided an opportunity to his rivals including Prem Kumar Dhumal who managed to field his amature son Anurag Singh Thakur from Hamirpur Constituency in 2008 and was elected as a Member of Parliament of India's 14th Lok Sabha from Hamirpur constituency.

Political analysts are of the opinion that Chandel’s joining the Congress will be a major jerk to the BJP as he is a familiar face in the area and has the capability to shift his own vote bank in favour of the Congress candidate Ram Lal Thakur whom he defeated twice.

With his joining the Congress, chances of the veteran politician Ram Lal Thakur are bright, they added saying that the election at Hamirpur seat has all become all the more interesting.

It will not be a cake walk for Anurag Thakur, this time as he faces Ram Lal Thakur and Suresh Chandel in addition to the anti-incumbency move taken up by the Opposition, against the BJP for abandoning the constituency over the past decade.

Moreover, he is considered one among many of the high-headed leaders of the state. Thakur was forced to step down from his position as president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on the orders of the Apex Court in 2017.

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