Amit Shah Arrived At Dharamsala-Factionalism In State Party Shall Be Major Issue

Dharamsala, May 1, 2015: National BJP President Amit Shah has arrived in Dharamsala  on Friday noon by air and was welcomed at the Gaggal airport  by Union Health Minister JP Nadda, BJP MP Shanta Kumar and former HP chief minister and the BJP legislative leader PK Dhumal  along with a large crowd of party leaders from different parts of the state. Shah shall attend the second days preceding of the  two-day executive committee meeting of Himachal Pradesh party unit being  held at Dharamsala from April 30.

“This meeting is being conducted to discuss the 'Mahasampark Abhiyan' (mass contact programme) of the party and Shah would also meet office bearers, presidents, and secretaries of the party,” said party spokesman Ganesh Dutt. The BJP president would also release the party's magazine "Kamaldeep Sandesh" during the meet.

On day one (30th April),the meeting was  presided over by state BJP chief Satpal Singh Satti, and the opening addresses were made by former chief ministers Shanta Kumar and PK Dhumal. Whereas the meet shall be joined today by Union Health Minister JP Nadda, BJP Organising Secretary and General Secretary Ram Lal and Saroj Pandey, BJYM president Anurag Thakur and state BJP organising secretary Pawan Rana would attend the meeting.

All district party presidents, general secretaries, constituency presidents, state party office bearers, MPs and MLA would attend the meeting, he added.

BJP national president Amit Shah will be confronted with tough task of ending the factionalism within the party in Himachal, which dethrone the party from state power during the 2012 assembly elections.

Dharamsala is the administrative capital of Kangra, the district which has the highest number of assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh. The Congress had gained 12 seats here in 2012 with a vote increase of just 3.27% in the assembly elections, while BJP could manage only 3 out of 15 seats in this district. This is the major course that the meet has been fixed in Kangra district.

Now after a majority win in the center and sweeping many other states (except few like Delhi). Now Shah is here to gear up BJP for targeting coming Panchayat Elections and particularly  the 2017 assembly elections, BJP has set a target of 60 seats out of 68  in Himachal. Leader of opposition and former chief minister P K Dhumal when visited this district a week ago , the ticket aspirants for 2017 assembly elections  welcomed him at various places in different groups.

Notably, Ranveer Singh, who lost Nurpur BJP seat in last assembly elections and is a loyalist of Shanta Kumar (sitting MP), greeted Dhumal on borders of his constituency. While Rakesh Pathania, a BJP rebel and close aide of P K Dhumal did not show up in any of the programmes. Pathania was BJP MLA in 1998 and during last five years till 2012, he remained an associate member of the BJP and remained close to Dhumal.

MP from Kangra-Chamba parliamentary constituency Shanta Kumar is one of the tallest BJP figures in the state. During the last stint of BJP government, ministers and MLAs from Kumar's faction had leveled serious allegations Dhumal-led government. The major concern of Amit Shah during his first visit to Himachal and Dharamsala shall try to plug Dhumal-Shanta differences to counter Vir Bhadra Singh lead congress government in Himachal ,

Before leaving for Delhi on Saturday, Shah will meet Dalai Lama at Mecleodganj.