Factionalism, inactive cadre: Why Congress dissolved its unit in Himachal Pradesh

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge with party MP Rahul Gandhi. (PTI)

In a drastic measure, the Congress party on Wednesday dissolved its entire state unit in Himachal Pradesh while retaining Pratibha Singh, wife of former six-time chief minister Virbhadra Singh, as the HPCC president.

“Congress president has approved the proposal to dissolve the entire state unit of the PCC, district presidents and Block Congress Committees of Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee, with immediate effect,” an official communication from AICC general secretary K C Venugopal said yesterday.

The development comes five months after the Lok Sabha elections that saw the party draw a blank in the four seats that went to polls. The Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee has seen no change in its structure ever since it came to power in the state in 2022 with Sukhwinder Sukhu as Chief Minister.

“I have been told to continue as the president of Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee. I have been stressing for a long time to dissolve the PCC as well as the district and block levels units as too many people had been adjusted in the committees especially in view of the elections in the state. Change is always good,” Pratibha Singh told The Indian Express.

Notably, Pratibha Singh has already been appointed member of the Congress Working Committee and her son, Vikramaditya Singh, serves in the Cabinet as the PWD and Urban Development minister.

The Congress had undertaken a similar measure after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections when it dissolved its Himachal unit while retaining then HPCC president Kuldeep Singh Rathore. Pratibha Singh was appointed as the HPCC president in April 2022. While there is no word on whether the AICC will replace her, media reports citing sources confirm that Singh may continue on the post in the revamped unit as well.

Incidentally, the recommendation for dissolution of the HPCC came from several quarters of the party, including the HPCC president, CM Sukhu as well as a fact-finding committee tasked by the AICC to study the party’s poor performance in the Lok Sabha polls.

Among the many reasons cited for the development are inactive cadre not giving enough time to party affairs, the absorption of several of its office-bearers as MLAs and the need to bring in new blood and rebalance the structure of the organisation.

At the root of the problem lies the factionalism that plagues the Congress’ Himachal unit, something that became evident when the party’s nominee, Abhishek Singhvi, lost the election to the lone Rajya Sabha seat from the state to BJP’s Harsh Mahajan after six Congress MLAs cross-voted in the latter’s favour.

The six MLAs were later disqualified for defying party whip to vote in favour of finance bill in the House. The political crisis had brought down the strength of the Congress in the 68-member House from 40 to 34, one short of the majority mark.

Later, Singh said that the central leadership of the party had failed to listen to the MLAs and that it was natural for them to be upset. The events further led to a face-off that saw her son Vikramaditya resign from the party while alleging attempts by some quarters to “humiliate” and “undermine” him. He eventually withdrew his resignation after being pacified by the party’s central leaders.

Over the past year, Pratibha Singh has pointed out on numerous occasions that the HPCC needs to be reconstituted and strengthened by replacing inactive members with the more enthusiastic and committed individuals.

She even expressed her displeasure publically with the office-bearers who were not giving adequate time to the party. Even ahead of the Lok Sabha election earlier this year, she had asked state in-charge Rajeev Shukla to remove the inactive members from their posts. On July 29, Pratibha had met Kharge in Delhi stressing on the need to make changes in organizational structure in the state.

“Both the state party president and the Chief Minister felt that the HPCC needed to be reconstituted to prepare it to handle the challenges of the future,” a media report citing sources said.