‘Exiled’ Raja eyes return to Himachal

Instead of targeting their political opponents, Cong leaders in the State are hitting out at each other in the election year

Congress politics in the northern region of the country presents a classic case study of internal strife, division, one upmanship and infighting. Instead of targeting the rival opposition parties, Congress leaders of the region prefer fighting each other.

Rather than displaying a sense of purpose, Congress leaders of the north remain busy with their in-house little wars, much to the merriment of their opposition. The casualty in such a scenario is obviously the poll prospects of the party.

Himachal Pradesh is the latest example where the Congress leaders and their camp followers are busy shouting at each other rather than coming together to take on the ruling BJP in the election year. They are busy devising strategy to outmaneuver the moves of their rival faction in the party and not the BJP.

All factions within the Congress in the hill state were lying low for the last over four years but with elections a little over six months away, Union Minister Virbhadra Singh has thrown his hat in the ring practically demanding that he be declared the party’s chief ministerial candidate. This is something which the party has avoided all these years, except perhaps in neighbouring Punjab where Rahul Gandhi declared Captain Amarinder Singh as the chief ministerial candidate a few days before the polls.

After being elected to the Lok Sabha in 2009 from Mandi and made a Union Minister, the five-time chief minister Singh felt that his camp followers were being marginalised and now wants to lead the campaign of the party in the state. He has sent feelers to the central leadership of the party and given the procrastination in central leadership, a decision is yet to be made.

Singh, who enjoys the confidence and support of over a dozen of the 23 MLAs of the party, is clearly apprehensive of the moves of his Cabinet colleague in the Manmohan Singh government – Anand Sharma. While Singh has indicated that his preference would be to return back to state politics as the chief ministerial candidate, Sharma has not opened his cards but his supporters insist that he is not averse to coming to the state if the party were voted back to power in the Assembly elections, scheduled later this year.

The visit of both the leaders in the state at the same time last week triggered an intense turf war in the party rank and file. MLAs practically got divided in two camps and were forced to choose between the programmes of the two leaders. Some chose to attend the function of Sharma in Kangra while the others chose to be with Singh in Shimla, further sharpening the differences within the state unit.

The battle of Sharma and Singh hardly has any neutral observer. You have state Congress President Thakur Kaul Singh who has aligned himself with Sharma in the battle for supremacy in the state unit thinking that perhaps such a move would help him get the coveted position of chief minister. Thakur’s idea is simple. If Sharma prefers to remain in central politics, and chances are that he would, then his backing would be crucial to become the chief minister. Despite being the head of the organisation in the state, a position in which he is supposed to be a neutral umpire, Thakur has decided to take on the “Raja” (Virbhadra Singh) head on.

Leader of Opposition in the state, Vidya Stokes, too has her ambitions but is waiting and watching the internal battle unfold and who gains the upper hand in the run-up to the polls. Her camp followers, though few as compared to Singh and Sharma, think that the party may chose a neutral face like her for the coveted post. They have the example of low profile Vijay Bahuguna being chosen by the party in the neighbouring Uttarakhand overlooking the claims of a sulking Harish Rawat.

Like Punjab, all the Himachal Congress leaders are assuming that the party will return to power and BJP will be voted out. I am not sure about the reasons for the overconfidence but it was the same approach which proved to be the nemesis of the party in Punjab. Captain Amarinder Singh assumed that the party was forming the government in the state and announced what he would do as chief minister. The voters clearly did not like this arrogance and taking them for granted. They simply brought back the Akali Dal-BJP back to power for the second consecutive time, giving thumbs down to the approach of the Congress.

The mistake of Punjab is being repeated by the Congress leaders in Himachal Pradesh. Interestingly, Punjab Congress was united before the polls and an arrangement had been thrashed out between the rival factions led by the Captain and Rajinder Kaur Bhattal. Infighting broke out only after the unexpected defeat. But in Himachal, there is no semblance of unity, nor a sense of purpose. Severe infighting has made the party a laughing stock much before the polls and it is now upto the central leadership to talk to the leaders concerned and declare a truce.

Realising that such an approach would prove to be suicidal, some young Congress legislators in Himachal are trying to bring a truce and approaching senior leaders with practically folded hands to concentrate on ousting the BJP rather than training guns on each other. So far, the plea has fallen on deaf ears. (April 15, 2012)

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