Poll coordinator writes to Amit Shah for BJP's Shimla ticket

SHIMLA: Trouble is brewing for the BJP in Himachal Pradesh, the party's election coordinator for the state, H N Kashyap, has said he would contest the May 19 poll from Shimla Lok Sabha seat at any cost, with or without the BJP. In a letter to BJP national president Amit Shah on Monday, H N Kashyap has questioned the chances of outgoing MP Virender Kashyap winning from the seat.
He has cited the 2017 assembly election loss of Dr Rajesh Kashyap, the MP's brother, from Solan to make his case strong."Since 2004, I am being denied the ticket despite assurances in each election. I have covered the entire Shimla parliamentary constituency and people are not happy with Virender Kashyap as he could not fulfill promises made in 2014. I have requested Amit Shah to allocate the ticket based on ground survey. Else, the party will lose," said H N Kashyap, who is a former bureaucrat.
He said Virender Kashyap, in 2014, promised to provide Scheduled Tribe status to Hatti community of Trans-Giri area of Sirmaur district, on the pattern of Jaunsar-Bawar area of Uttarakhand. However, in last five years, nothing happened on this front and Hatti people are annoyed with him, the BJP leader said. "Around 2.4 lakh people belong to Hatti community and they are set to oppose Virender Kashyap," he said. "Of the 17 assembly seats under Shimla parliamentary constituency, MP asked his brother to contest from Solan and there too he could not win. This shows how much people are against him," he added.
H N Kashyap said people have formed Sirmaur Manch, Chopal Manch, Hatti Manch and Solan Manch, and all of them are pressing him to contest this time. He said he had reached out to most households in the constituency and distributed 2.5 lakh visiting cards, 30,000 New Year cards and 30,000 Diwali cards among the people.