Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut, who is making her electoral debut as the BJP candidate from the Mandi Lok Sabha constituency, faces opposition from within the party. Former BJP state president Maheshwar Singh has asked the party high command to review its decision to field Ranaut.
Singh said that Ranaut has made no contribution to the party and the people of Mandi are asking for a review of her candidacy on social media. "Talks are on with the BJP high command on reviewing their decision," he added. He further said that previously, he was promised a ticket.
Other BJP dissidents who were denied a ticket in the 2022 assembly polls and fought as Independents have also held a meeting to discuss their strategy. BJP leader and former minister Ram Lal Markanda has resigned from the party along with his supporters Congress rebel Ravi Thakur, who voted in favor of the BJP in Rajya Sabha elections, has been given a ticket for assembly bypolls from Lahaul and Spiti.
"I have left the BJP along with my supporters and would definitely contest the assembly polls," news agency PTI quoted Markanda as saying.
The Mandi Lok Sabha constituency comprises 17 assembly seats, eight of which are reserved for Schedule Tribes and Schedule Castes. The seat has traditionally been a battlefield for royal families, with their scions winning 13 out of the 19 elections held so far.
As Ranaut launched her election campaign, senior BJP leader Maheshwar Singh urged the BJP to reconsider its decision to field the actor. Meanwhile,
Congress state chief and sitting MP from Mandi seat Pratibha Singh, who had earlier withdrawn from the race, changed her stance after Ranaut's candidature was announced, saying she would follow the directions of the Congress high command.
"People have a sentimental attachment with former chief minister Virbhadra Singh and that is the reason why people always support our family and want somebody from this family to contest this election," Pratibha Singh said.
Ranaut, in her first election meeting, called herself a "daughter and sister" of the people of Mandi and claimed she was constantly "bullied" for hailing from Himachal Pradesh.
"It is not that my father or husband is chief minister and I have joined politics," Ranaut said in a not-so-veiled attack on Pratibha Singh and Vikramaditya Singh. The mother-son duo previously compared Ranaut to actor-politician Sunny Deol, who has been criticised for his absence from his Lok Sabha constituency.
Those elected from this constituency in the past include Raj Kumari Amrit Kaur of Kapurthala dynasty and Raja Joginder Sen Bahadur of the erstwhile princely state of Mandi, both of whom have been elected once. Raja Lalit Sen of Suket has represented Mandi twice whereas Virbhadra Singh, Pratibha Singh and Raja Maheshwar Sing have been represented the constituency three times each.