No truck with Sukh Ram in Himachal: BJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday ruled out any alliance with Sukh Ram's Himachal Vikas Congress in the forthcoming assembly election in the state.

BJP leader and Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said, "We have finalised sixty names already and eight more will be finalised in a day or so."

On Wednesday evening, Dhumal met BJP president M Venkaiah Naidu to sort out difficulties in eight constituencies where more than two aspirants were vying for tickets.

It is learnt that most of the sitting ministers and MLA's have been re-nominated from their respective constituencies.

Deputy Speaker Ram Das Malangar has been denied a ticket from Kutlehar constituency, where Virender Kanwar has replaced him.

Minister for Agriculture Narinder Bragta has been shifted from Shimla to Jubbal Kotkhai seat.

Ganesh Dutt, a close associate of the chief minister, has been nominated from Shimla.

Meanwhile, the Congress has constituted a five-member central panel to screen the names sent by the state screening committee. The central panel will make its recommendations to the Congress Working Committee, which will take a final decision.

Asha Kumari, senior state Congress leader and sister of former chief minister Virbhadra Singh, denied a report that the party has finalised a list of 45 members.

"Anyone who knows the working of the Congress party knows that the names are finally cleared by the Congress Working Committee, which will be presided over by Congress president Sonia Gandhi. The central screening committee will make its recommendations after a series of meetings slated for Thursday and Friday and after that it is up to the Congress president to convene the CWC meeting and give its approval to the list of the candidates," she told rediff.com in New Delhi.

Congress leader and in-charge of Himachal Pradesh, Satyajit Gaekwad, told rediff.com that the party would win 42-45 seats.

"We would get at least 10 seats in Kangra, five in Mandi, the bastion of Sukh Ram, five each in Shimla and Sirmour. Then we have places like Unna, Bilaspur, Lahaul and Spiti, Bharmaur, which would chip in with one or two seats. Our main poll plank will be corruption. When the Virbhadra government left office the state had a Rs800 crore debt. Now that has gone up to Rs15,000 crore. We are going to ask where the money has gone. Obviously, it has gone in the kitty of the rulers and Sukh Ram, who was partner in the government," Gaekwad said.

Sukh Ram is expected to announce his list of candidates in Mandi on January 31 after a meeting of the parliamentary board of the Himachal Vikas Congress.

The Himachal Vidhan Sabha has sixty-eight seats, out of which elections will be held for 65.

The remaining constituencies will go for polls in June when the snow melts in Lahaul, Spiti, Bharmaur and Kinnaur.