New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party president JP Nadda stated on Sunday that Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur will lead the party in the state’s approaching assembly elections, news agency ANI reported.
“Jai Ram Thakur is doing work and he will continue with it in future. He will not be replaced and the BJP will contest the Assembly elections under his leadership,” Nadda stated in response to Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia’s assertion that Union minister Anurag Thakur will take over for Jai Ram Thakur.
Nadda also dismissed rumours of a Cabinet restructuring ahead of the elections. However, he warned that between 10% and 15% of current MLAs’ tickets will be reduced in the polls.
“10 to 15 per cent of sitting BJP MLAs might not get tickets in the elections. 10 to 15 per cent of BJP MLAs did not get access in the UP Assembly elections, and it is likely to happen here, too,” he was quoted by ANI in its report.
Instilling optimism about the BJP’s victory, Nadda said, “we will form the government in the state once again.”
When questioned why the party’s proposed CM face in the 2017 assembly elections, Prem Kumar Dhumal was not made CM after losing the poll from his own constituency, whereas in Uttar Pradesh Keshav Prasad Maurya was made Deputy CM after losing the poll from his own constituency, BJP chief said that the party makes decisions based on merit.
This year’s Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections are scheduled. In the 2017 Assembly Election, the BJP gained 44 seats, considerably beyond the halfway point of 35, while the incumbent Congress received 21 seats and others received three seats out of a total of 68 Assembly seats.
(With ANI Inputs)