Absence revives talk of old factional fault lines between Sukhu and Virbhadra camps
Munish Sood
MANDI:
As the Himachal Pradesh Congress stages a massive show of strength in Mandi on Thursday (December 11, 2025) to mark three years of the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led government, the absence of two prominent leaders — PWD Minister Vikramaditya Singh and outgoing state Congress working president Pratibha Singh — has sparked fresh speculation over internal equations in the ruling party. Though party insiders say Vikramaditya is abroad, murmurs continue within the organisation that Pratibha could still have attended the high-profile event.
Their absence has revived talk of the long-standing friction between the Sukhu and Virbhadra camps, a rivalry that has shaped Congress politics in Himachal for over two decades.
The Mandi rally, estimated to draw a crowd of over 25,000 at Paddal Ground, is crucial for the Congress as it plans to showcase the government’s achievements and project its roadmap ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections. But the non-participation of the two senior leaders from the influential Virbhadra family threatens to overshadow the celebrations.
The bitterness between the two factions is neither new nor subtle. Former CM late Virbhadra Singh had once publicly called Sukhu a “blackmailer”, while Sukhu, then aligned with the Vidya Stokes camp, was widely perceived as opposing the Virbhadra faction within the party. The rivalry continued after the 2022 elections, with tensions occasionally spilling into the open.
Vikramaditya’s past flashpoint over father’s statue
In 2024, Vikramaditya nearly resigned from the Cabinet, accusing the government of obstructing the installation of his father’s statue at Shimla’s Ridge. The row had escalated dramatically before the issue was eventually resolved and the statue was installed recently. The episode had deepened perceptions of distrust between the Chief Minister and the Virbhadra loyalists.
While Congress leaders maintain that Vikramaditya’s absence is merely due to foreign travel, party circles say the optics of both he and Pratibha staying away from the government’s biggest public outreach event of the year are hard to ignore.
Chief Minister Sukhu, on the other hand, has time and again denied any rift within the party.
Congress betting big on Mandi show of strength
Meanwhile, preparations for the ‘Jan Sankalp Sammelan’ had started long ago. The event, being held in the stronghold of Leader of the Opposition and former CM Jai Ram Thakur, is being viewed by the Congress as a critical exercise to reclaim political ground in Mandi district, where the party had suffered a heavy setback in the last Assembly elections.
Paddal Ground has been fully decked with hoardings and banners displaying key schemes, welfare initiatives and major decisions taken during Sukhu’s tenure. Senior ministers, including Revenue Minister Jagat Singh Negi and Panchayati Raj Minister Anirudh Singh, had supervised arrangements on the ground. Deputy CM Mukesh Agnihotri and Health Minister Dhaniram Shandil reviewed the final preparations on Wednesday, while state Congress president Vinay Kumar reached Mandi on Tuesday evening.
