Virbhadra shows who's the boss in Himachal (Election Special)

Less than a year and a half after wresting power from the BJP in the state and then proving his mettle by ensuring that the Congress retains the Mandi Lok Sabha seat, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh has now succeeded in accommodating all his four candidates for the May 7 Lok Sabha polls.

Sources in the party said the three-member list released by the party leadership in New Delhi Thursday evening comprises the candidates who owe allegiance to Virbhadra Singh.

The chief minister's wife Pratibha Singh, Mohan Lal Bragta and Chander Kumar figure in the list. They are candidates from Mandi, Shimla (reserved) and Kangra constituencies.

The fourth one, Rajinder Rana, BJP-rebel-turned Virbhadra Singh's loyalist, in all probability will be the Congress candidate for the Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat, the pocket borough of the BJP.

Rana Friday resigned from the state assembly and formally joined the Congress.

"Rana has joined the Congress and his name for the party candidate from Hamirpur will be announced by the high command any time now," state Congress chief Sukhvinder Sukhu told IANS.

Of the four seats, the BJP won Shimla (reserved), Kangra and Hamirpur while the Congress bagged Mandi during the 2009 general elections.

Two-time MP Pratibha Singh won the Mandi parliamentary bypoll in June last year by defeating BJP's Jai Ram Thakur, a former cabinet minister, by 136,724 votes, while one-time MP Chander Kumar lost the 2009 general elections from BJP's Rajan Sushant with a margin of over 20,000 votes.

Sushant is now an Aam Adami Party (AAP) candidate from Kangra, the largest constituency in the state.

However, both Rana and Bragta are first-time legislators and this is their maiden attempt in the Lok Sabha fray.

The main opposition BJP has retained two-time MP Anurag Thakur from Hamirpur and sitting MP Virender Kashyap from Shimla, while from Kangra it has fielded two-time chief minister Shanta Kumar, who faced defeat from the Congress' Chander Kumar by 17,791 votes.

The saffron party is yet to announce its candidate for the Mandi seat, the stronghold of the Congress.

"The party leadership has given preference to Virbhadra Singh by adjusting all his candidates, whereas some senior leaders were lobbying for a union minister," a party leader told IANS on the condition of anonymity.

From Kangra, union Culture Minister Chandresh Kumari Katoch was keen to contest. But the chief minister favoured the candidature of Chander Kumar.

Even Congress leader Vinod Sultanpuri, son of six-time MP K.D. Sultanpuri, was also in the race.

Party sources said Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi was keen to allot ticket to Sultanpuri but his defeat in the last assembly elections went against him.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) has fielded two candidates from the state. They are Kushal Bhardwaj and labour leader Jagat Ram from Mandi and Shimla, respectively.

Besides Sushant, AAP has fielded Kamal Kanta Batra, mother of the 1999 Kargil war hero Capt Vikram Batra, from Hamirpur, the seat dominated by defence personnel and ex-servicemen.

Interestingly, this time Congress leaders, including a cabinet minister, were shying away from contesting the election from the Hamirpur constituency.

Industries Minister Mukesh Agnihotri has written a letter to the party high command, expressing his reluctance to contest from Hamirpur.

The Congress has won the Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat only once in the past 25 years.

State Congress chief Sukhvinder Sukhu had, however, put forward the name of Agnihotri from Hamirpur.

Of the six Congress legislators in Hamirpur, Agnihotri is the only cabinet minister.

Sources said that even during meetings with the party leadership in Delhi, Virbhadra Singh and Sukhu had been adamant on their stand on the Hamirpur ticket.

Virbhadra Singh has also said that Sukhu, who belongs to Hamirpur, should be made the candidate if Rana is not inclined to stand from there.

But according to party sources, even Sukhu has ruled himself out of the contest.

(Vishal Gulati can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in <mailto:vishal.g@ians.in>)