Congress 'fauji' battles BJP's 'fauji' in Shimla

It's an ex-serviceman versus an ex-serviceman from Himachal Pradesh's Shimla (reserved) seat. Both are aiming guns loaded with political salvoes and firing at each other.

One is a retired Colonel of the Indian Army, while another is former Senior Non-Commissioned Officer of the Indian Air Force.

The former, Dhani Ram Shandil, 78, is a Congress candidate, while the latter is Suresh Kashyap, 48, from the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Both belong to the Koli community covered under the Scheduled Castes category. Shandil is a two-time MP from Shimla, while Kashyap is trying his luck in the parliamentary polls for the first time.

Both are sitting legislators and are not facing any criminal case.

Interestingly, both Kashyap and Shandil rarely trade personal barbs and harp more on infrastructure and tourism development and country's security agenda, a political observer said.

"I am a fauji (soldier) and he's also a fauji. But there is difference of opinion among both of us. He belongs to a party that questions India's surgical strikes and air strikes," Kashyap said.

He said the Congress had also questioned the evidence of the strikes and was compromising with the security of the country.

Undeterred, a well-mannered Shandil said: "It is not the Congress but the BJP which is politicising the air strike and trying to get a political mileage out of it."

"I am seeking re-election on the basis of my past performance as a two-time MP vis-a-vis BJP MP's last two stints from this seat," Shandil, who is more a statesman than a politician, said.

He is banking on the national sentiments for having fought in the 1962, 1965 and 1971 wars. Firing pot-shots, Kashyap, who did post-graduation in English, Public Administration and Tourism Management, said being an ex-serviceman Shandil has to make his stand clear on abolition of Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA) and the Sedition Act as mentioned in the Congress manifesto.

Shandil, who was a Cabinet Minister in the previous Virbhadra Singh-led State government and did doctorate in Political Science, took to politics when he joined the Himachal Vikas Congress, an outfit floated by ex-Telecom Minister Sukh Ram, who is again back in the Congress.