Accompanied by wife Amreen Kaur for UK visit
Sunil Chadha
Shimla: Even as the Himachal Pradesh government marked three years in office with a high-profile Jan Sankalp Sammelan in Mandi on December 11 (2025), the celebrations were overshadowed by the conspicuous absence of PWD Minister Vikramaditya Singh, who skipped the event to receive an international honour in London. His mother, Congress veteran and former HPCC chief Pratibha Singh, was also missing from the anniversary function, fuelling fresh talk about internal party dynamics.
Vikramaditya Singh was conferred with the international Youth and Icon award in London for youth leadership and what organisers described as his contribution to “intellectual politics”. He travelled to the UK along with his wife, Dr Amreen Kaur Sekhon, a professor at Panjab University.
London honour for ‘youth leadership’
The award ceremony in London recognised Vikramaditya Singh as a young political leader with a distinct ideological voice. Supporters say the honour adds to his national and international profile, especially among the Indian diaspora. However, the timing of the visit — coinciding with the state government’s most important political event of the year — ensured that his absence did not go unnoticed back home, say analysts.
While the minister’s camp maintained that the foreign visit had been scheduled earlier, senior Congress leaders privately conceded that the optics were “awkward”, given that Mandi was hosting the government’s third anniversary celebrations.
Pratibha Singh also stays away, old grievances resurface
Adding to the intrigue was the absence of Pratibha Singh, who recently stepped down as the HPCC chief and currently holds no organisational or government post. Sources said she chose not to attend the Mandi event due to lingering resentment over last year’s anniversary function in Bilaspur, where she was asked to cut short her speech.
She had later complained to the AICC over the delay in reconstituting the state Congress body. A year on, leaders close to her say she feels increasingly marginalised, a sentiment probably reflected in her decision to skip the Mandi programme.
Missing Virbhadra legacy, factional buzz grows
The absence of the Virbhadra Singh family — long regarded as the backbone of Congress politics in Himachal Pradesh — stood out at a rally meant to project unity and strength. Posters of the late six-time chief minister were also missing from the venue, reinforcing perceptions of a shifting power balance within the party.
This year, the Congress focused its mobilisation on lower Himachal, including Hamirpur, Mandi, Kullu and parts of Kangra, signalling a recalibrated political strategy. Yet, party insiders admit that the non-attendance of Vikramaditya and Pratibha Singh has revived talk of old factional fault lines, particularly between the ruling Sukhu camp and the Holly Lodge faction, at a time when the party is preparing for the crucial local body and the 2027 Assembly elections.
