All does not seem to be well with the BJP in Himachal where infighting amongst the Cabinet ministers belonging to different factions have once again come to the fore, forcing the party high command to intervene to make peace between the warring factions. After gaining some momentum and fairing well in the Shimla Municipal Corporation elections, the party seems hellbent upon losing all initiative to the Congress in the crucial year when the Assembly elections are due.
In the recent public utterances, two Cabinet ministers, Mr Ramesh Dhawala and Mr Kishan Kapoor, belonging to BJP vice-president Shanta Kumar’s faction, have asked for the removal of one of their Cabinet colleagues, Mr Ravinder Ravi, belonging to chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal’s faction.
All the ministers involved in the controversy belong to the same district, Kangra, the biggest district of the state. Mr Shanta Kumar belongs to the district and wields considerable political influence there. However, trouble began when Mr Ravi, who is considered close to the chief minister, lost his original constituency in the delimitation process.
Mr Ravi expressed his desire to contest the next Assembly election from the constituency of another Cabinet minister, Mr Dhawala. This did not go well with the Shanta faction and two Cabinet ministers from his camp publicly started asking for Mr Ravi’s resignation over indiscipline and interfering in the functioning of the party.
Even the district unit of the BJP, which is controlled by the Shanta camp, passed a resolution against Mr Ravi for ignoring Mr Shanta Kumar.
Keeping in view the sensitivity of the issue and the public spat between its Cabinet members, the BJP high command summoned all the three Cabinet members involved in the controversy to Delhi to resolve the issue. BJP sources inform that the ministers would meet junior national leaders earlier Sturday and later in the evening the ministers are supposed to meet BJP president Nitin Gadkari.