What bypoll victory or defeat will mean to Congress turncoats Sudhir Sharma, Rajinder Rana 

The Newz Radar Network

The anticipation surrounding the six Assembly byelections in Himachal Pradesh surpasses that of the four Lok Sabha seats, all of which went to the polls on June 1. The heightened curiosity stems from the fact that the bypoll results will determine the prominence of various leaders within the state’s politics — first-time Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, the six disqualified Congress turncoats who contested on the BJP ticket, Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur, Congress state president Pratibha Singh and her BJP counterpart Rajeev Bindal.

Of particular interest is the fight for survival by disqualified Congress MLAs Sudhir Sharma and Rajinder Rana, both defending their old seats Dharamshala and Sujanpur on the BJP ticket. Chief Minister Sukhu has taken it upon himself to defeat the two rebels, with the byelection in these two seats turning into a battle of prestige.

Leading up to the 2022 Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections, Sudhir and Rana were viewed as rising stars within the Congress. Speculation was even rife that both would secure ministerial positions should the party emerge victorious. Although the Congress did indeed triumph, neither Sudhir nor Rana was appointed to the cabinet, despite both being invited for the oath-taking ceremony in Shimla.

The resultant disappointment served as the trigger for dissent, with seeds of rebellion sown on the inaugural day of Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s cabinet assuming office. This initial dissatisfaction would eventually snowball into a significant crisis for the Congress government is something that even the Chief Minister Sukhu hadn’t thought.

The Congress government, despite having 40 seats in the 68-member Assembly and three Independent MLAs too swearing allegiance with it, lost the February 27 (2024) Rajya Sabha election for the lone seat from Himachal to the BJP as six Congress MLAs cross-voted for rival candidate. Harsh Mahajan of the BJP, which had only 25 MLAs in the Vidhan Sabha, defeated Congress nominee Abhishek Manu Singhvi.

Once aligned with the anti-Sukhu faction led by the late six-term Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, both Sudhir and Rana were considered key figures in the rebellion against the first-time Chief Minister. Alongside four other Congress MLAs — Inder Dutt Lakhanpal (Barsar), Chaitanya Sharma (Gagret), Davinder Kumar Bhutto (Kutlehar) and Ravi Thakur (Lahaul-Spiti) — they were disqualified from the Assembly on February 29. The six Congress rebels, along with three Independents, were relocated by the BJP to party-ruled states Haryana and Uttarakhand, only to return home nearly a month later when the BJP declared them the candidates from their respective seats.

As the bypolls approached, Sukhu accused Sudhir and Rana of orchestrating the conspiracy to topple his government. Despite initial attempts by Congress state president Pratibha Singh and her minister son Vikramaditya Singh to reconcile differences, the rebels showed no signs of relenting. The Chief Minister, who spearheaded the bypoll campaign, will have to bear the consequences of both victory and defeat against Sudhir and Rana. If the Congress suffers a loss, Sukhu’s authority may be compromised, potentially leading to calls for his resignation. However, a victory could bolster his position within the party.

For Sudhir and Rana, the bypoll has turned out to be a battle for survival, particularly in a party like BJP that has no dearth of good leaders. While a victory would keep them afloat in Himachal politics, a defeat could mean the end of their political career.

Sudhir is a four-term MLA and had even remained a minister in the Virbhadra government from 2012 to 2017. Rana had emerged a giant slayer in 2017 by defeating his one-time mentor and BJP’s CM candidate Prem Kumar Dhumal. Seeing the intensity of the political animosity, all eyes will be on battlegrounds Dharamshala and Sujanpur as the outcome emerges on June 4.