Himachal BJP in fire-fighing mode

Even as BJP vice president Shanta Kumar appears detached keeping a low profile of late, his supporters have become more vocal seeking removal of powerful Irrigation and Public Health Minister Ravinder Singh Ravi, a staunch Prem Kumar Dhumal loyalist, for raising the demand for splitting Kangra into four small districts.

BJP president Nitin Gadkari recently summoned Dhumal loyalist ministers Ravi and Rajiv Bindal and Industries Minister Krishan Kapoor and Food and Civil Supplies minister Romesh Dhawala of Shanta group in an effort to iron out the differences among them.

However, the meeting attended by other senior BJP leaders apparently did not yield the desired results, prompting Gadkari to call Dhumal and Shanta Kumar to resolve the crisis.

Shanta Kumar had been asking for sending a strong signal to the masses by dropping some ministers and has publicly said that the "mission repeat" would not be successful unless the senior leaders who had quit the party are not taken back.

Kangra, the largest district in the state, accounts for 15 out of 68 assembly constituencies and was most powerful district politically.

The demand for division of Kangra into four small districts raised by Ravi and independent MLA Rakesh Pathania has caused a vertical split in the party in the district with the Shanta faction openly opposing the move, saying it was ill timed as the term of the government is coming to an end. More