Despite the victory in bypolls, the party is witnessing factionalism in the state unit.
New Delhi: Despite the success in the Assembly and parliamentary bypolls, the Indian National Congress (INC) is witnessing factionalism in the Himachal Pradesh unit with senior leaders demanding change in guard in the state. Experts and party insiders feel that the party high command needs to resolve the issue soon or else it may damage the party’s prospects in the upcoming Assembly elections scheduled late this year. Multiple sources within the Himachal Congress and independent observers who are watching the politics of the state confirmed to The Sunday Guardian that the media hype about party success in the bypolls would not change the difficult ground reality of the party in the state as factionalism is on the rise.
One senior Congress MLA on the condition of anonymity said, “Yes, we won the Assembly segments of Fatehpur, Arki and Jubbal-Kotkhai and the prestigious Shimla Lok Sabha seat, which energized our cadre, but it is also true that some senior leaders are not happy with the state president. They had met the party in-charge and demanded that Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu should be made the state president or the Congress Legislature party leader. Undoubtedly, Sukhu had a following within the Congress workers as he is a four-term MLA, but the way his group is working may harm our prospects, we have to resolve the issue soon. The death of Virbhadra Singh is hitting the party big time as now we don’t have a guiding figure who is acceptable among all the factions of the party.”
Political observers feel that Congress has an uphill task in dealing with factionalism in the state unit. Shimla-based political commentator Ajay Thakur said, “Factionalism has always been Congress’s main problem in the state. It will be difficult for the party to project any leader to lead the party in next year’s Assembly polls. Sukhu is a tall leader but there are other tall leaders in the party like Asha Kumari and Kuldeep Rathore. Therefore, collective leadership is the safe way out.”
The bypoll results sent good signals in the grand-old-party as it won all the seats which went for polls. In the Fatehpur Assembly segment, Congress candidate Bhawani Singh Pathania defeated BJP’s Baldev Thakur by a margin of 5,897 votes , while in Arki seat, Sanjay Awasthi of the Congress won by a margin of 3,227 votes over BJP candidate Rattan Singh Pal. In the Jubbal-Kotkhai Assembly constituency, Congress candidate Rohit Thakur managed to defeat the saffron party’s candidate.
The state of Himachal Pradesh has seen a change in guard with THE Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress forming government alternatively since 1990 and the party believes this time, it is its turn in 2022. However, increasing factionalism may harm its prospects before the Assembly election.