BJP drops pet issues for Himachal, Cong still to list names

Noting the discomfort among NDA partners after he recently vowed to fight the Assembly polls in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhatts...

Noting the discomfort among NDA partners after he recently vowed to fight the Assembly polls in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattsigarh using the Ayodhya poll plank, BJP general secretary Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said today that the party will not contest the Himachal elections on the controversial agenda. However, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi will be drafted for the campaign.

Naqvi said: ‘‘We would not raise the Ayodhya temple, Article 370 and the common civil code issues in Himachal. They reflect our ideology. The party stands by it and we are not apologetic about them. We feel that security, achievements of the Prem Kumar Dhumal government and development would be the election issues.’’

Regarding Modi, Naqvi said he would certainly campaign in the state along with Goa CM Manohar Parrikar and Jharkhand CM Babulal Marandi.

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The BJP will mount a full-scale offensive against Congress in Himachal on February 12 with 10 national leaders addressing rallies at different places in the state. The BJP had launched its election campaign in Gujarat with 25 simultaneous public meetings.

Deputy PM L.K. Advani will address rallies at Kullu and Kangra, party president Venkaiah Naidu and Law Minister Arun Jaitley at Solan, Uma Bharati at Chamba, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj at Hamirpur, Delhi BJP chief Madan Lal Khurana at Una, Rural Development Minister Shanta Kumar at Bilaspur, general secretary Rajnath Singh at Mandi and general secretary Pramod Mahajan at Shimla.

PM A.B. Vajpayee will campaign in the second phase. Jaitley and Mahajan will park themselves at Shimla from February 7 for election management. Rajnath would oversee Mandi region, Khurana, Dharmshala area and Chaman Lal Gupta, the Chamba region. Each Assembly segment will be assigned to an MP. Workers from Punjab, Haryana, J-K, UP, Uttaranchal and Delhi would be mobilised.

Meanwhile, Congress’ final list of candidates for Himachal got stuck over four seats today. Till late in the night, the candidates for Kasauli, Ghumari, Mandi and Thural were yet to be decided. Sources say AICC has to balance the seat distribution in a way so as to please all communities and factions in the state.

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The party has been trying to include candidates from Girth community. Senior party leaders like Manmohan Singh and Mohisina Kidwai are busy finalising the names.