SHIMLA: After having elected as Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament unopposed here today, Prof Sikender Kumar said that his goal would be to work for strengthening the economy of Himachal and creating employment opportunities for the youth in the state.
It was a hassle-free cakewalk for Dr Sikender Kumar, vice-chancellor of Himachal Pradesh university to reach the Rajya Sabha, Upper House of Parliament in New Delhi unopposed as opposition Congress did not field any candidate considering its strength in the present Vidhan Sabha.
With this, BJP now has conquered all the three Rajya Sabha seats for the first time in Himachal. In Lok Sabha out of four seats, BJP has three MPs while Congress has one MP, Pratibha Singh, who won the last by-election from Mandi last year.
BJP high command sprang a surprise by picking Dr Sikender, a right-wing Sangh activist on the HP university campus, who comes from the reserved category.
Dr Sikender is the second significant tactical pick of the BJP after Suresh Kashyap, a Shimla Lok Sabha MP, who also represents the Dalit community, who was elected as state BJP president in a bid to gain the confidence of the community in the state. Suresh Kashyap had replaced Dr Rajiv Bindal as BJP President and he is the first BJP state president from the Dalit community.
By giving top representation to the Dalit community in Himachal, BJP seeks to kill two birds with one stone: The party seeks to win over the estranged Dalit community of Himachal Pradesh and to shed its popular tag that the “BJP is a party of high caste Swarnas, ahead of the coming state assembly elections”.
The Rajya Sabha seat was vacated by Anand Sharma, a senior Congress leader, whose tenure as an MP ended last month. Himachal has three Rajya Sabha seats. Now BJP has all the three MPs from Himachal Pradesh- Jagat Prakash Nadda, BJP national Chief, Indu Goswami and now Dr Sikender Kumar.
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, Urban development minister Suresh Bhardwaj, CM’s political advisor Trilok Jamwal were specially present on this occasion.
In a show of strength, BJP Scheduled Caste Morcha took out a rally from the statue of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar at Chaura Maidan to the Vidhan Sabha today carrying Sikandar Kumar on shoulders to the Vidhan Sabha for the election.
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said the process for the Rajya Sabha seat of Himachal Pradesh is completed and Dr. Sikandar Kumar of BJP is victorious. While congratulating Sikander Kumar, he said that Dr. Sikander Kumar has contributed a lot to the BJP.
Thakur thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Minister Amit Shah, BJP National President Jagat Prakash Nadda and BJP State President Suresh Kashyap for his appointment. He also thanked the Congress that no nomination was made on his behalf. “Dr Sikander Kumar would work for the development of Himachal as an MP and would give full cooperation for the progress of Himachal”, he said.
Dr Sikender Kumar said he will live up to the expectations of the workers and will leave no stone unturned to accelerate the pace of development of Himachal Pradesh. “I will always be ready for public service. “I will make every effort to bring schemes from the Center to the state at the earliest. My goal will be to strengthen the economy of Himachal and increase employment”, he asserted.
Dr. Sikander Kumar thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Minister Amit Shah, BJP National President Jagat Prakash Nadda and BJP State President Suresh Kashyap for this new responsibility. He also thanked all the BJP workers, ministers and MLAs.
(Kuldeep Chauhan is Editor, Himbu Mail)
