Seat scrapped,Dhumal silent over choice for Assembly polls

With Delimitation Commission scrapping Bamson constituency CM has been forced to change constituency.

With the Delimitation Commission scrapping Bamson constituency – the Assembly seat he has represented thrice since 1998 – Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal has been forced to change constituency but his silence over the issue has started a guessing game in the state.

Hamirpur constituency,however,seems to be the favourite and the chief ministers frequent trips to the area in the past few weeks has only added fuel to speculation that Dhumal may contest from here. The area is close to the the chief minister,as his hometown,Samirpur village falls in Hamirpur district and he was thrice an MP from the Hamirpur Parliamentary constituency.

Bamson constituency on the other hand has been trifurcated and its panchayats and blocks have been added to the existing seats of Hamirpur,Mewa (now Borainj) and the newly carved Sujanpur constituency. Even other constituencies have also undergone significant changes in the district setting in new caste equations and geographical boundaries. The Lokhit party – formed by the breakaway BJP group is also searching for areas in Hamirpur to challenge the chief minister.

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Dhumal,who returned here on Friday after his two-day tour of Hamirpur,dropped no hints about his choice of constituency for the Assembly polls this year and parried pointed questions on whether he had already decided on the Hamirpur seat. I have no idea as where my party will field me. So,its not clear which constituency I will be contesting in the upcoming Assembly polls. But you ( the media) are free to draw your own conclusions and make guesses,Dhumal said on Friday.

Inquiries from the party also reveal that Dhumal was keeping his cards close to his chest as an early announcement of his choice could annoy some sections of the party or even give the Opposition an opportunity to start early preparation. Urmil Thakur,the sitting Harmirpur BJP MLA and former Chief Parliamentary Secretary also hasnt given up hope for the 2012 contest.

For the chief minister,who has earlier won elections from Bamson and even his last parliamentary election in 2007 by all time high margins,its not an issue where he should go. Rather,he may be weighing the options for other candidates so that the BJP sweeps the polls in his stronghold,a senior BJP leader said.

The party has been doing quite well in the Assembly and Lok Sabha polls in Hamirpur ever since Dhumal became chief minister in 1998 and later in 2007 – when he led the party to a landslide victory crossing a highest mark of 41 seats, with the Congress only win coming at Nadaun.

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Some of his close confidants in the cabinet and the party are also suggesting that the chief minister could be moving on to Hamirpur instead of Sujanpur. If that happens Urmil Thakur may shift to Sujanpur. But here,Rajender Rana – a Dhumal loyalist and former vice-chairman of the state media advisory committee has already thrown his hat in the ring.

Rana asserts that he was already working in the areas and enjoys immense support of the people. Its public knowledge that I will be contesting the election at Sujanpur. Now I leave it up to the party to consider my candidature but I am not going back on my plans,he told The Indian Express.