Truth of Congress’s Feb 26 Shimla Dinner: Fake handshakes, hugs, and smiles Abhishek Manu Singhvi failed to read

Abhishek Manu Singhvi and co were deluded by the bonhomie at a pre-poll dinner in Shimla. (Source: PTI)

Shimla: “Dushmani jum ke karo lekin ye guzarish rahe jab kabhi hum dost ho jayein to sharminda na ho.” So goes an Urdu couplet which casually translated in English means, “Make enemies with all the might you have, but do not be ashamed if you ever meet again.”

For close to 15 months, the Himachal Congress was ridden with factionalism where the left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing. That they had 43 MLAs, including three independents in the Vidhan Sabha of 68 members probably made them think that they could last a full term of five years.

Poll-Eve Detente That Lasted Till Polling

But when the polls for the lone Rajya Sabha seat from Himachal Pradesh was to take place on February 27, all the 43 MLAs were invited for the Congress dinner. The leaders shook hands, hugged, smiled and clicked photos but could not look each other in the eye, lending credence to the above-mentioned Urdu couplet. There was an air of embarrassment. And in the midst of it, the MLAs were asked to pledge their votes for the Congress candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi. And pledge, they did.

In the morning, some of the Congress MLAs who later cross-voted in favour of the BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan had breakfast with Singhvi, and again pledged their allegiance to Congress and him. But later in the day when voting took place, six Congress MLAs and three independents voted for the BJP candidate Mahajan.

Both the candidates were tied at 34 votes each. This meant that there was a draw of lots in which Mahajan was declared the winner. Hours later the nine MLAs were escorted to Panchkula, Haryana, a bastion of the saffron party where BJP is in power.

Vikramditya’s Resignation

To add to the political khichdi, the PWD minister Vikramaditya Singh, son of late former Himachal CM Virbhadra Singh, also resigned from the Council of Ministers making the never-in-focus politics of this small hill state, spicy and palatable. Addressing a press conference, Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu sat like a chef for whom the broth had been spoiled.

For Congress thankfully, the budget was passed today by voice vote after the speaker of the Vidhan Sabha suspended 15 BJP members for unruly behaviour in the House. However, the danger will keep lurking. After all, there is buzz in the political circles that some more Congress MLAs are keen to defect to the BJP.

And if the BJP was able to make a fight for a Rajya Sabha seat in a House despite being 18 MLAs less than Congress – BJP had 25 legislators and Congress 43 – the Lotus could bloom sooner than expected in the state .

A Divided Congress: The Backstory

It all goes back to the year 2002-03 when fresh after winning elections in Himachal Pradesh, Virbhadra Singh became the CM despite opposition from none other than the party high command (Sonia Gandhi). He was the only Congress CM who would look Sonia Gandhi in the eye and let her know in peremptory fashion after every election victory that the numbers were with him and he would be the CM.

In 2003, the present CM Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu was a first-time MLA and was undecided about which camp he should be a part of. Doubts that the high command may prevail over Virbhadra and appoint his bete noire within the party Vidya Stokes as the CM made Sukhu temporarily warm up to Stokes. After that Virbhadra never trusted Sukhu.

But even otherwise Virbhadra Singh never groomed anyone to be his number two. Major (retd) Vijay Singh Mankotia once said about Virbhadra Singh: “He brought me into politics. But he calibrated my growth. If you tried to grow beyond a point, your wings would be clipped.” In 2012 again, Virbhadra won the elections and announced to the high command that he would be the CM. The Congress high command interfered little in the affairs of the state till 2021 when he died.

It was only in 2021 that the Congress high command got a grip over Himachal Congress in its entirety. A year later when Congress won the elections in December 2022, despite hectic lobbying, Virbhadra’s wife Pratibha Singh could not become the CM, and her son Vikramaditya Singh too got a raw deal, a “mere” ministerial berth in the Sukhu government.

The mother-son duo of Pratibha and Vikramaditya and the Sukhu camp have been at loggerheads ever since. It is now clear that all the Congress’s February 26 dinner yielded was fake handshakes, hugs, and smiles. The reality of the Congress – of two factions – unable to stand each other, is now out in the open.

Shamsher Chandel is an independent journalist based out of Chandigarh. Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication.