After Virbhadra Singh’s demise, the question is who can lead the party and prepare for the upcoming Assembly elections.
New Delhi: After the demise of Virbhadra Singh, the longest-serving Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, the Congress in the state needs to address the question of leadership with the Assembly election approaching next year. Undoubtedly, Singh, who was a six-time CM and became a member of Parliament in 1962, was the tallest and undisputed leader of the party in Himachal Pradesh. After Yashwant Singh Parmar, the first Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, it was Virbhadra Singh who dominated the politics of the state since the 1970s. With his demise, the party is at a crossroads about how to prepare for the upcoming polls.
“In other states, the Congress has got leaders who can lead the party and is acceptable among the masses like Amarinder Singh and Harish Rawat in adjoining Punjab and Uttarakhand respectively, but in Himachal Pradesh, with the death of Raja Saheb, there is a void which will be difficult to be filled,” Narendra Singh, a political observer based in Shimla, told The Sunday Guardian. “To find an acceptable face within the Congress is a challenge as there are many factions within the party,” he added. Virbhadra Singh was not in the best of his health after the 2017 election, but was active in state politics. Singh passed away last month at 87 after battling a prolonged illness due to post-Covid complications.
Many leaders like state Congress chief Kuldeep Singh Rathore, All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary Asha Kumari, leader of Opposition in the Himachal Assembly, Mukesh Agnihotri, former cabinet ministers G.S. Bali and Sudhir Sharma and five-time MLA Harshwardhan Chauhan are there in the party, but nobody had the standing and mass following in the state like Virbhadra Singh. Moreover, Virbhadra Singh was the only leader in the Congress who could keep all factions of the Congress united and enjoyed the confidence of the high command.
“Undoubtedly Virbhadra Singh was the tallest leader of the state, but it’s naturally that one day, everybody has to go; the loss of Raja Saheb is massive, but the party had to cope with it. Even after the demise of Yashwant Singh Parmar, a new leadership emerged in the state in the form of Virbhadra Singh,” Kuldeep Singh Rathore, Himachal Pradesh Congress chief, told The Sunday Guardian. “We will fight the upcoming Assembly election in the state through our party organization which is strong and under collective leadership, the party has a strong base in the state,” he added. The party also aims to cash in on the legacy and the works of development done by Virbhadra Singh during his tenure as Chief Minister. Many believe that as of now, it will be difficult for the party to project any leader to lead the party in next year’s Assembly polls. Therefore, collective leadership is the safe way out.
The state has seen a change in guard with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Indian National Congress (INC) forming governments alternatively since 1990 and the party believes that this time, it is its turn in 2022. However, the demise of its tallest leader has left the party at a crossroads just before the Assembly election. To emerge victorious in the Assembly election, the Congress will have to put up a united face as no leader enjoys the support Virbhadra Singh had in the state.