BJP confident of winning SMC and Hamirpur Lok Sabha elections

Shimla, Apr 21 (UNI) The BJP today expressed optimism that the party will emerge victorious in the Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) and Hamirpur Lok Sabha by-polls due in the next few months.

''The party will win both the SMC and Hamirpur Lok Sabha polls, continuing with its winning streak in Punjab and Uttaranchal assembly elections and Mumbai and Delhi Corporation elections,'' party's national vice president Sahib Singh Verma said at a press conference here.

Mr Verma was here to chalk out the party's strategy in forthcoming Shimla Municipal Corporation and Hamirpur Lok Sabha by-polls.

The party's spectacular win would extend to Goa assembly elections, due in June, and Gujarat assembly elections later this year and Himachal Pradesh early next year, he said.

Replying to a question on the party's candidate for the Hamirpur Lok Sabha by-polls, he did not rule out the possibility of senior leaders being asked to contest the elections.

The BJP leader said the party has already discussed the probable names of the leaders and would announce its candidate once the Election Commission announced the date of the elections.

The party was neither considering to field the suspended MP Suresh Chandel from Hamirpur and nor had he staked his claim for the elections, he said.

Referring to the preparations for the SMC, he said the party has prepared a three level structure with three different people responsible for a single booth.

He said the party has also decided to launch a mass contact programmne with the masses of the state from April 25.

The people of the state were disenchanted with the state Congress Government and has decided to vote out the present Virbhadra Singh Government, he said.

Mr Verma said rising prices of essential commodities would be one of the issues in the Lok Sabha by-polls.

UNI