Himachal Congress may get new president ahead of Lok Sabha

TNR Desk

The two Congress observers who were deputed to resolve the political crisis in Himachal Pradesh have suggested the change of the state unit president, Pratibha Singh, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

The observers, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar and former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, favoured replacing Mandi MP Pratibha as she would be re-contesting the election from her parliamentary constituency. In such a situation, there is a possibility that the Himachal Congress would be contesting the Lok Sabha election under a new president.

In their report submitted to the high command, Shivakumar and Hooda had held Pratibha accountable for the Congress’ embarrassing defeat in the election to the lone Rajya Sabha seat from Himachal. The duo blamed the Mandi MP for the “overall state of disarray within the party’s state unit”.

The Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu government had to face an embarrassing situation recently when the party’s Rajya Sabha nominee Abhishek Manu Singhvi, a renowned legal luminary, had to face defeat despite the Congress having comfortable majority with 40 MLAs in the 68-member Vidhan Sabha. The BJP had 25 MLAs of its own, but it managed the votes of six Congress rebels and three Independent MLAs. BJP’s Harsh Mahajan won after a draw of lots as both the candidates were tied at 34 votes each.

The Congress in Himachal Pradesh has been embroiled in internal turmoil following the Rajya Sabha election debacle. The Congress observers submitted their comprehensive report to party president Mallikarjun Kharge, highlighting the underlying issues plaguing the party.

The actions of Pratibha’s son and PWD minister Vikramaditya Singh during the crisis were also deemed as “disruptive to party discipline, raising concerns about his reliability as a leader”. The report cast doubts on Vikramaditya’s “ability to garner trust from key party members in the future”.