Efforts are afoot to create a political alternative in Himachal Pradesh that can overcome the state’s deep-rooted party bipolarity, just over a year before the assembly elections are held.
Ram Lal Markanda, a former BJP minister who was expelled from the party in 2024, said he had met leaders from various parties, including those who feel marginalized in the BJP and the BJP, and that a new party might be launched in March-April next year.
“We were just waiting for the results of the panchayat elections and now the talks will resume with senior leaders,” he told PTI on Sunday.
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“Senior leaders and workers of both the BJP and the Congress who come to power alternately feel marginalized and stifled, making it necessary to have a new party that will ensure the respect of the senior leaders and the welfare of the common people,” alleged Markanda, a former MLA representing Lahaul and Spiti constituency.
Markanda was expelled from the BJP after he contested the 2024 assembly by-elections from Lahaul and Spiti as an independent.
“The party should be launched early so that the leaders get enough time to work in their constituencies and serious leaders should be selected,” a senior Congress leader who participated in the discussions said.
“Launching a party at the last minute and accepting candidates who were denied tickets by the BJP and Congress did not work well in the past,” the leader said.
“Talks are on and we are exploring all possibilities,” another veteran BJP leader said. Markanda said the new party is expected to be launched in March and April next year.
Reacting to the furor over a new party in March, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu pointed out that a ‘third front’ had been formed several times in the past and the possibility of its formation had always existed in the state. Pointing out that such a development would hamper Congress’s rivals, he said the BJP was “divided into factions”.
However, Markanda alleged that Sukhu wants to eliminate supporters of former chief minister Virbhadra Singh, who enjoy a strong presence within the state Congress unit.
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Moreover, he said the BJP central leadership sidelined many old and seasoned leaders and replaced them by giving tickets to Congress turncoats who joined the BJP. Ravi Thakur, who won the Lahaul and Spiti seat against Markanda in the 2022 Assembly polls on a Congress ticket, was the BJP’s candidate for the by-elections in 2024 after he switched parties. Thakur and Markanda, who contested independently, lost to the Congress candidate.
Thakur was among six Congress MLAs who along with three independents voted for the BJP candidate, Harsh Mahajan, in the February 2024 Rajya Sabha polls.
They were disqualified by the Speaker but were later given tickets by the BJP in the 2024 by-elections, much to the dismay of other BJP leaders.
“Ideology has declined and winning elections at any cost has become the norm. But we are looking for suitable winning candidates before registering a new party and after that manifesto,” Markanda said.
He added: “With a focus on employment and development, we will reach out to the people, offer them solutions and show them that the country can become self-sufficient by generating additional revenues from mining, forestry, water, electricity and health.”
The emergence of a third front is not new to the state, and has been tried many times. But since the faces of the fronts were always defectors from the Congress and the BJP, they were always vulnerable to joining one of the two parties.
After being expelled from the Congress in 1997, former Union Communications Minister Sukram formed the Himachal Vikas Congress, which won five seats in the 1998 Assembly elections but after a modest defeat in the 2003 state elections, the party merged with the Congress again.
In 2012, BJP dissidents led by scion of the erstwhile Kullu royal family and former state BJP president Maheshwar Singh formed the Himachal Lokhit Party (HLP), which won just one seat and later merged with the BJP.
Congress dissident and former minister Vijay Singh Makutia joined the Janata Dal before the 1990 Assembly elections. The Janata Dal formed an alliance with the BJP in the 1990 Assembly elections and won eleven seats but later nine elected members joined the Congress.
Former Speaker Thakur Sen Negi formed the Lok Raj Party in 1970 but could only win two seats in the 1972 Assembly elections. Negi later joined the Congress before the 1977 elections.
