AAP looking for a face in Himachal, reaches out to Cong ex-minister
Shimla: Ahead of a fresh show of strength, which the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has planned a week later on April 23 in Kangra –state's biggest district, former minister Sudhir Sharma seems to be inching closer to Arvind Kejriwal team, camping in Himachal Pradesh.
Sharma, a Brahmin face, is son of Congress veteran late Sant Ram Sharma, who ranked number two in the Virbhadra Singh government in 1993, and even earlier enjoyed powerful positions in the government.
Kejriwal proposed a massive rally and a road at Shahpur in Kangra district to storm the state, where he had already held his first rally in Mandi, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur's home district.
Party insiders said some preliminary talks have already been held with Sharma, who for a long time had remained side-lined in the party, particularly after he had lost 2017 election at Dharamshala, and later declined party offer to contest bypoll in 2019.
As a result of his denial, the party lost Dharamshala seat and its candidate lost security deposits as well. Though, there have been strong rumours about Sudhir Sharma also looking at his fortunes in the BJP for the next assembly polls, but AAP seems to have taken the first move.
"It is not yet sure, he will be joining AAP or when this will happen. It's true that he had met AAP leaders in Chandigarh and also invited them to Dharamshala at a secret place for a follow up meeting.
As AAP has been seriously working on expanding its army of volunteers in the state to make inroads into the Congress camps to challenge the BJP in the November 2022 poll, its leaders are desperately looking for a face to lead the party to the polls, and make a dent in the state.
Recently, AAP had suffered a blow to the BJP when Union Minister Anurag Thakur surprised its leaders by breaking away its top leadership and making its state party president Anoop Kesari to join BJP in presence of national party chief J P Nadda in New Delhi.
This was just two days after Kejriwal's Mandi roadshow and a day before Nadda arrived at Shimla to an impressive welcome by the BJP.
Nadda is arriving once again in Kangra on April 22, just a day before the Kejriwal tour to boost the morale of the party workers in Kangra and build up the party's poll campaign in advance.
The Congress had been gradually losing its grounds in the state due to absence of its leadership and the party's large dependence on PCC leadership, which lacked any support of the cadres or sense about public mood.
"We are fast losing the space and also momentum created by the party's victory in four bypolls in November 2021, which also included Mandi. The situation is back to square one," admits a sitting Congress MLA.
The demoralisation in the Congress leaders like Sudhir Sharma is thus obvious and there are chances of few more jumping the fence. At least, two senior party leaders have already conveyed to the high command that they may not contest the next poll if leadership changes were not effected.
"It 's better to sit back home than watch the end of the party's future under few leaders either holding on to PCC set up or trying to demolish a house of cards," a senior MLA said.
Meanwhile reports say the BJP is preparing to mend fences with some of its leaders who had quit the party for some reasons. One of them also include Suresh Chandel, a former MP and ex-state BJP president, who had joined the Congress some years back. Chandel hails from Bilaspur, which is J P Nadda's home district.
