Sheilla Dixit may be a game spoiler for many congressmen in Himachal. As a Rajya Sabha seat from Himachal is being made vacant after the exit of the former CM of Himachal –cum –senior leader of BJP Shanta Kumar, is seems to be her. The seat shall now be grabbed by the ruling Congress. Lots of congress leaders and the most loyalists of Vir bhadra Singh were waiting for this day, include a top leader of Kangra who saved Singh from a CD case in the High court through his friendly statement just before the state elections last yeaer,is Major Vijay Singh Mankotia. Monkotia who later lost his Shapur legislator constituency to BJP lady leader, was promised by Singh to rewarded suitably. It was in the air that Mankotia is being considered for this Rajya Sabha seat.It is a blow for Mankotia- he now may join another party (say AAP0 for the lok sabha elections. The other leader is former MLA of Dharamsala ,now a central minister in Manmohans cabinet (congress MP from Jodhpur), Mrs Chandresh Kumari, to get this seat for being Sonia’s close . CM Himachal recently have also shown his desire to give this seat to Chander Kumar former MP and OBC leader of Kangra. Viplove Thakur,Former MP and doughter of veteran congress leader Sarla Sharma is also in the race along with Harsh Mahajan of Chamba. But on the present circumstances Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh indicated about the candidate for the seat, as “It’s the party high command which has to take the call”.
But with the indication that Former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit who has lost her Assembly seat to Arvind Kejriwal, may get this Rajya Sabha seat from Himachal Pradesh on the clearance of High command in Delhi. Sources said the central leadership of the party had indicated to the state Congress unit about fielding Dikshit for the Rajya Sabha seat in Himachal Pradesh, which will fall vacant in April at the end of the six-year term of BJP leader Shanta Kumar.
The seat will go to the Congress since the party has a majority in the 68-member state Assembly. The state’s Chief Electoral Officer Narender Chauhan on Tuesday issued a notification for initiating the election process for the Rajya Sabha seat. The last date for filing nominations is January 28.After Sheila Dikshit’s name cropped up over the last two days, local leaders are learnt to be upset. They said if the central leadership wants to accommodate national leaders, it should choose bigger states where a larger number of Rajya Sabha seats are likely to fall vacant