Dharamshala, Oct 29 (PTI) Palampur in Himachal Pradesh isset to witness an interesting contest in the Assembly pollsscheduled for November 9, when two new faces from the rulingCongress party and the opposition BJP will fight a former MLA.
The BJP has fielded the state president of the party'sMahila Morcha, Indu Goswami, while the Congress has chosen tobet on the politically-established Butail family by givingticket to Ashish Butail, the son of outgoing Speaker andcurrent MLA from Palampur, Brij Behari Lal Butail.
Both the candidates are debutantes in the assembly polls.
They face challenge from former BJP legislator PraveenSharma, who joined the electoral battle as an Independentcandidate after he was refused ticket by the BJP.
Sharma could dampen the prospects of Goswami, who is seenas an outsider as she hails from the adjoining Baijnathconstituency, reserved for a Scheduled Caste candidate.
"The people of Palampur have asked me to stay in thepoll. The top leadership of the BJP offered me chairmanship ofboards and corporations, but I refused as I wanted to servethe people than to sit in a room," he said.
Sharma is believed to be close to veteran BJP leaderShanta Kumar, a two-time Himachal Pradesh chief minister.
Palampur, a hill station in the Kangra Valley, derivesits name from the local word 'palum', meaning lots of water.
Numerous streams flow from the mountains to the plains fromPalampur. It is also Shanta Kumar's hometown.
Goswami claimed she lobbied for greater representationfor women with her party. "It is only me, who requested thenational leadership of BJP to give at least 10 assembly seatsto women in the assembly polls and I am grateful to thenational leadership that it has given six assembly seats towomen.""I am a dedicated worker of the BJP for three decades. Ihave worked in the state women commission in 1999 and thenworked as state president of the Mahila Morcha. Now, as a BJPcandidate I shall prove my worth by bringing the much-neededdevelopment to Palampur," she said.
She is said to be close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi,with whom she worked when he was party in-charge of HimachalPradesh. It is expected here that Modi may address a rally inPalampur in her support.
Ashish Butail, 39, has been given the responsibility ofcarrying on the political legacy of his family. His father isa respected leader, but the issue of the Congress partypromoting dynastic politics has not gone down well with partyworkers.
Moreover, the Congress candidate could face oppositionfrom Gokul Butail, his cousin and IT adviser to Chief MinisterVirbhadra Singh. Gokul Butail had applied for a ticket, butwas denied.
Ashish Butail's father won the Palampur assembly seatfive times out of the 11 elections held after the inclusion ofthe Kangra district in Himachal Pradesh from Punjab in 1966.
"My father, BBL Butail, has served the people of the areafor 50 years. He has a clean image. During the past fiveyears, crores of rupees have been spent here on development-related work by him," Ashish Butail said.
"Now it's my duty to complete the pending work, beforestarting the new ones. I hope the people of Palampur will sendme to the Himachal Vidhan Sabha in view of our family's tieswith the people and the work done in the area," he added.
BBL Butail lost once to Shanta Kumar in 1990 and ParveenSharma - a leader carved out by Shanta Kumar - in 2007.
Butail was also the richest MLA in the 2012 elections inthe state. He owned properties worth Rs 150 crore, besidesother movable assets.
The polling in the state would be held in a single phaseon November 9 and the counting of votes would be taken up onDecember 18. PTI CORR ABHNSD.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.
