HLP leaders rejoin BJP

Himachal Lokhit Party (HLP) leader KR Balnatah, who was removed from all posts for accusing his party chief for being soft on Chief minister Virbhadra Singh and Congress, today rejoined BJP.
Apart from Balnatah, HLP spokesperson and office bearers and over three dozen party workers also joined BJP.
"The decision of the party chief and his proximity with the Himachal Chief Minister forced them to quit the party," said the HLP leaders, who joined BJP today.
Balnatah, a former MLA, was the last prominent leader to quit the HLP, which was formed by rebel BJP leaders who broke away from the BJP to float a new party.

After Balnatah, now only four leaders with having some political stature were left in the HLP, which include its president Maheshwar Singh, former ministers Shyana Sharma and Mohinder Sofat and former MLA Babu Ram Mandyal.
The BJP was keen to take back the HLP leaders before the Lok Sabha polls. It has now taken almost all the rebels, who were expelled for contesting Assembly elections against the party's official candidates in 2012, back into the party.

Former MLAs including Rakesh Pathania, Roop Singh, Karam Dev Dharmani, Naveen Dhiman, Dulo Ram, Khushi Ram Balnatah, who contested as independent and were instrumental in defeat of BJP candidates in the last assembly polls are now back in the party.

HLP chief had earlier rejected the BJP's offer to merge his party with them and maintained that his party would follow the policy of maintaining equal distance with both the BJP and the Congress.
The party had opposed the BJP in Mandi Lok Sabha by-elections last year which helped Congress candidate Pratibha Singh to win by a huge margin.
Balnatah and some other leaders had urged the HLP chief to contest the Lok Sabha polls against Pratibha Singh, but he refused, which angered the other party leaders.