Shimla: Fearing a weakening of congress’s campaign in Himachal because of fielding new comer Madan Lal against Anurag Thakur in Hamirpur, the party replaced their candidate with Narinder Thakur, who AICCC sources annouced as the official candidate today.
Thakur, a former BJP member joined the party only six months ago and will take on Anurag Thakur, son of chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal.
While Narinder Thakur had emerged as a strong candidate to challenge the domain of the chief minister in his home district, his candidature was opposed by a section of congressmen on the grounds that a long term party member be given the ticket.
The party had also toyed with handing the ticket to actress Priety Zinta, who showed no interest in taking up the challenge.
In opposition to congress president Kaul Singh and former chief minister Virbhadra Singh’s choice of fielding the former BJP strongman from the seat, the party high command last week announced the name of Madan Lal, the former cricketer for the high profile seat.
However the announcement was resisted fiercely by party workers with many announcing their resignations.
The old hand at cricket found politics a tough pitch to field on and reported ill on Wednesday at Delhi and was admitted to a private hospital in Noida.
As Editor, Ravinder Makhaik leads the team of media professionals at Hill Post.
In a career spanning over two decades through all formats of journalism in Electronic, Print and Online Media, he brings with him enough experience to steer this platform. He lives in Shimla.
