Mandi MP and Himachal Pradesh Congress chief Pratibha Singh’s decision to not contest the Lok Sabha elections is bad news for her party, which has already been grappling with rebellion within its ranks.
Singh’s statement that the BJP was better prepared for the elections in the hill state compared to her party also did not help.
It’s surprising how the Congress has lost steam after its convincing win over a seemingly unbeatable BJP in the last assembly elections. Things went wrong quickly.
The crossover of six rebel MLAs during the Rajya Sabha polls to gift the prestigious upper house seat in Parliament to the BJP’s Harsh Mahajan came as a shocker, a clear signal to CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu to pay heed to the complaints of his party workers and take concrete steps to address their concerns.
Pratibha Singh has added fuel to the fire by saying that elections cannot be won just by distributing MP funds.
To have a senior party leader like her accuse the ruling dispensation of not giving importance and responsibilities to party workers also speaks volumes.
Has morale among the troops hit such a low that there is no way out for the high command to salvage the situation?
Who would know better about the state’s Congress workers than the wife of party stalwart, late Virbhadra Singh, the longest-serving chief minister of Himachal? The MLAs who defied the Congress during the Rajya Sabha elections are close to her too, because of which she had even urged the Himachal speaker to reverse their disqualification from the Assembly.
How Pratibha Singh plays her cards next remains to be seen even as she has expressed her intention to concentrate on winning the by-elections for seats left vacant after the MLAs disqualification, saying it is her “responsibility” to ensure that the party bags all seats.
Will that help her make a comeback? Will other party leaders be forced to introspect and look for remedies to infuse life into the party and see to it that their promises to the people of HP are fulfilled?
If Congress has to survive in the state it has to act now and act fast to bring the sulking and disgruntled souls back to its fold – the soldiers who helped it take on the might of the BJP in the past. Their voices have to be heard or the party will have to pay dearly for the mismanagement of its people.
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