BJP finalises candidates for Himachal Pradesh Assembly polls

New Delhi: BJP’s central election committee (CEC) met on Saturday to finalise candidates for the Assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh,  scheduled on November 9.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with core group members of party’s state unit, also attended the meeting which was chaired by party president Amit Shah and other central leaders.

The state core group,  it was learnt, had earlier cleared nearly 40 names but could not arrive on a consensus on the remaining and has asked the central leadership to finalize from the panel of names.  Speculation is rife that the BJP can field many news faces this time. The party will release candidates names on Sunday.

With the Virbhadra Singh led Congress government facing massive anti-incumbency and the chief minister himself battling corruption allegations, the BJP is confident that it will come back to power in this hill state. The ruling Congress is also battling factionalism and its central leadership had to  intervene in the matter. In more bad news for the Congress, it’s Cabinet minister Anil Sharma, could join the BJP,  which is likely to field his son Ashray from Mandi.

The BJP has this time set a target of ‘Mission 50 plus.’ Other than the central leaders, the CEC was attended by two former chief ministers, Shanta Kumar and Prem Kumar Dhumal, state unit chief Satpal Singh Satti and Union health minister J. P. Nadda, who are core group members of the state unit. Mr Nadda’s name is doing the round in the party circle as the BJP chief minister. Speculation is also rife that the party leadership is also considering the names of Mr Satti, senior leader Jairam Thakur and Sangh pracharak Ajay Jamwal for the top post. Supporters and loyalists of Mr Dhumal are also lobbying hard for him to see as the next chief minister of the Hill state.