Is Himachal’s BJP facing internal rift as the next state assembly polls draw nearer and nearer? Nadda feels the party pulse in Shimla after Sukhu’s Sankalp Rally in Mandi.
SHIMLA, DECEMBER 12:
Fresh from the BJP’s sweeping win in Bihar, party national president and Union Health Minister JP Nadda landed in here on Friday to a high-voltage welcome—one that instantly shifted the political spotlight back to Himachal Pradesh.
His visit comes barely days after the Sukhu government’s Sankalp Rally in Mandi, marking three years of Vyastha Parivartan, and at a time when the Himachal BJP is openly battling internal rifts.
Senior leaders Jai Ram Thakur, Anurag Thakur, and state BJP chief Rajiv Bindal have been speaking in different tones, triggering another round of one-upmanship inside the party.
The leaders are publicly training guns at each other to score some brownie points by blaming the 2022 defeat on poor performance in Hamirpur and Una by its leaders.
Nadda’s arrival, therefore, is being read as a move to restore order in the state unit and reassert central leadership’s grip.
Nadda gets a hero’s welcome amid factional tensions
Nadda drove in from Chandigarh, choosing the road route—something party workers called a “simple, people-connect gesture.”
At Willy Park, he was received by Bindal, Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur, state in-charge Srikant Sharma, co-in-charge Sanjay Tandon, and other senior leaders and MLAs.
MLAs lined up with bouquets and roses, projecting rare public unity on a day when the leadership crisis remained the unspoken backdrop.
Foundation stone ceremony tomorrow, grand felicitation at Peterhof
On Saturday Nadda will lay the foundation stone of the new BJP state headquarters on Airport Road at 10 am.
This will be followed by a mega felicitation event at Peterhof—his first visit to Himachal after the Bihar victory—where thousands of workers are expected to gather.
State BJP vice president Bihari Lal Sharma is overseeing arrangements at the foundation site, while general secretary Sanjeev Katwal is handling preparations at Peterhof.
The party is pitching the ceremony as a show of strength and loyalty, with the emphasis on “abhinandan” signalling a strategic attempt to consolidate all warring factions under Nadda’s leadership.
Closed-door meeting with MLAs: political climate, disaster response, and strategy
Soon after his arrival Durin, Nadda chaired a crucial meeting of the BJP Legislature Party, led by LoP Jai Ram Thakur. Bindal, Sharma, Tandon and organisation general secretary Siddharthan also joined the discussions.
The meeting reviewed: the current political situation in the state, organisational performance and lapses, upcoming programmes and mobilisation campaigns,
BJP’s on-ground work during recent disasters, the progress of the “Mera Booth Sabse Mazboot” initiative, strategies linked to the party’s self-reliance pitch
While the party projected the meeting as routine, insiders say Nadda’s intervention is aimed at tightening the increasingly loose ends of the state unit, especially with Himachal heading toward a politically sensitive year.
If the show of unity in public was meant to send a message, the behind-the-scenes conversations were a reminder that BJP’s Himachal chapter has homework to do before it can look confident going into 2026.
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