Despite the cold, political scene warms up (Himachal Newsletter)

As the political heat generated by the coming general elections grows in otherwise freezing Himachal Pradesh, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh will have to ensure that not only he and his MP wife Pratibha Singh emerge unscathed from the payoff charges against them but also that the Congress triumphs.

The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is confident of regaining the ground it lost in the 2012 assembly elections as it hopes issues like corruption plaguing the state government's one-year rule will be its major vote plank.

In a state that has four of the Lok Sabha's 543 elected seats, the April-May polls would certainly be a litmus test for the Congress government in just over one year at the helm with the BJP preparing a chargesheet detailing allegations of corruption against Virbhadra Singh to be sent to President Pranab Mukherjee to demand the chief minister's resignation, say political observers.

Undeterred by the allegations, a shrewd Virbhadra Singh said: If the BJP has any evidence, it is free to knock at the door of Lokayukta".

"Our party's core committee has decided to make corruption cases involving Virbhadra Singh a national issue," BJP leader and two-time chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal told IANS.

He said the party would soon launch a "Virbhadra Mukt Himachal" (Himachal rid of Virbhadra) campaign for which signatures would be taken to garner public support.

To gear up its cadres, the BJP has planned a public rally on Feb 16 of its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in Sujanpur town near Hamirpur, sitting party MP Anurag Thakur's constituency. Thakur is Dhumal's son.

Then, political debutant AAP (Aam Aadmi Party), which stormed to power in the Delhi assembly elections last December, has announced it would name candidates for all four seats and is expected to make a dent in the strongholds of two arch rivals - the Congress and the BJP, believes an observer.

"AAP will definitely upset the electoral arithmetic of the Congress and the BJP," the observer said.

Both the Congress and the BJP have started an exercise to finalise the candidates for the Shimla, Kangra, Hamirpur and Mandi seats at the earliest.

The BJP had won the Shimla (reserved), Kangra and Hamirpur parliamentary seats in the 2009 general elections, while the Congress won the Mandi seat.

Virbhadra Singh had won the Mandi seat and vacated it after being elected to the state assembly in December 2012. His wife Pratibha Singh won the by-poll last June by a huge margin of 136,724 votes.

"The state election committee is meeting in Shimla Jan 21 to deliberate on the probable candidates for the Lok Sabha polls," Congress spokesperson Naresh Chauhan said.

The Himachal Pradesh Congress has so far received 19 applications from candidates keen to contest the elections. Pratibha Singh from Mandi and former minister Chander Kumar from Kangra figure in the list.

Raghubir Bali, son of Transport Minister G.S. Bali, is also eyeing Kangra, where the BJP is planning to field two-time chief minister Shanta Kumar for the seat. The BJP's Rajan Sushant resigned from the seat and the party on Jan 10 after a prolonged tussle with the state party.

From Shimla, the Congress is keen to field Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's confidant Vinod Sultanpuri, who lost the assembly election from Kasauli by a margin of 23 votes, while the BJP is planning to retain incumbent Virender Kashyap.

Industries Minister Mukesh Agnihotri and independent legislator from Sujanpur Rajinder Rana are among the hot contenders from the Congress for the Hamirpur seat, while Anurag Thakur is likely to be given a third chance for the seat.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), which surprisingly won the mayor's and deputy mayor's posts in the May 2012 Shimla civic polls, is also in the fray. It will field Kushal Bhardwaj and Jagat Ram from Mandi and Shimla.

In the 2004 general elections, the Congress had won the Shimla, Kangra and Mandi parliamentary seats, while the BJP claimed the Hamirpur seat.

For the record, the BJP has accused Virbhadra Singh and Pratibha Singh of accepting Rs.1.5 crore and Rs.2.4 crore through cheques from Venture Energy and Technology Pvt. Ltd. to extend the deadline for a hydro power project. The state cabinet has described the charge as "unsubstantiated".

(Vishal Gulati can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in)