No clarity on Congress candidate for Hamirpur

SHIMLA: Suspense over Congress candidate from Hamirpur parliamentary seat has left everybody guessing. Last time the party had fielded Rajender Singh Rana, who had lost to BJP's Anurag Thakur by a margin of over 98,000 votes. This time Rana, a sitting MLA from Sujanpur, is interested in fielding his son Abhishek Rana while the Congress has fixed the criteria that no sitting MLAs or their family members would be allowed to contest the parliamentary elections.With the dominance of Rajput votes, a candidate from the same community would have to be fielded from here.
In Hamirpur parliamentary seat, the Congress is aiming to defeat three-time BJP MP Anurag Thakur, but who will be the candidate against him is yet to be decided. Recently former state party president Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu had proposed that either he or Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Mukesh Agnihotri should be given the ticket, but several senior leaders, including Agnihotri, had rejected the idea. Many within the party see this proposal of Sukhu as an attempt to oust Agnihotri out of state politics.
A senior Congress leader, requesting anonymity, said Sukhu was in the race for CLP leader, but could not make it. On the other hand, Agnihotri had the backing of former chief minister Virbhadra Singh and now is a strong contender for the CM post if the Congress comes to power in 2022.
"Agnihotri has gained a lot since his election as CLP leader and now efforts are on by the rival camp to send him out of state politics by proposing his name from Hamirpur parliamentary seat. The fact is that in Hamirpur only a Rajput candidate can win," he added.
Another party leader said history of Hasmirpur seat showed that candidates other than Rajputs had limited scope to win as in the past Congress had fielded Brahmin candidate O P Rattan in 2008.
He had lost by a margin of around 1.75 lakh votes while seat has been represented by Rajput candidates in 10 consecutive elections since 1991.
Rajinder Singh Rana had defeated former CM Prem Kumar Dhumal in the assembly election. But the Congress has this time decided on the criteria that neither a sitting MLA nor the children of MLAs or those above the age of 70 would be given ticket. If the party follows this new criteria of giving young leaders a chance then Abhishek Rana could the party's choice.