In another jolt to the Congress ahead of the Assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh, Rajinder Malangar, son of the former Deputy Speaker Ram Dass Malangar, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party, along with his supporters, in the Kutlehar constituency in Una.
On Thursday, Chetan Parmar, a prominent leader of Sirmaur and grandson of the first Himachal Chief Minister Y.S. Parmar, also joined the BJP.
Kush Parmar (father of Chetan Parmar) was a five-time Congress MLA and is still active in the State politics. The family was feeling ignored.
Anil Sharma, son of veteran Congress leader Sukhram and a sitting Cabinet minister in the Virbhadra government, had also joined the BJP after being allegedly slighted by the Chief Minister. Prominent leader of Kangra, Major (retd.) Vijay Singh Mankotia has parted ways with the Congress and is fighting independently from Sahapur.
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh’s brother-in-law Vikram Sen and his wife, Jayoti Sen, who is now a BJP candidate from Kusumpati, left the Congress a few days ago. Calling the Congress a sinking ship, sitting Nahan MLA and BJP vice-president Rajiv Bindal organised a welcome function for Mr. Parmar.