New Delhi: In a sudden move, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge dissolved the entire Himachal Pradesh unit to pave the way for the revamp of the local team in the party-ruled state.
“The entire state unit would be revamped. This had been in the pipeline and was being done as the state team had not been changed over the past several years. Now a lot of fresh faces would be given key party roles and would strengthen the organization,” AICC secretary in charge of Himachal Pradesh Chetan Chauhan told ETV Bharat.
Four months ago, Kharge had dissolved the entire Odisha unit which is yet to be revamped.
The directive from the Congress chief on Nov 6 included the ‘entire state unit of the Himachal Pradesh pcc, district and block level units’ raising doubts whether the move would include state unit chief Pratibha Singh, who had desired that either she or her MLA son Vikramaditya Singh should be made the chief minister but finally the high command opted for veteran Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu in 2022.
Pratibha Singh had been brought in by the high command months ahead of the 2022 assembly elections to capitalise on the legacy of her late husband and former chief minister Virbhadra Singh and defeat the BJP. What had also gone in her favour was the fact that Pratibha Singh won the Mandi Lok Sabha by-poll after the saffron party had won all four parliamentary seats in the state in 2019.
Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Chief Minister Sukhu had assured the high command of winning at least two of the four seats in the state but failed miserably as the saffron party won all the seats in a repeat of 2019. Vikramaditya Singh lost the Mandi Lok Sabha seat to BJP leader and actor Kangana Ranaut.
The need for change in the state team got registered with the high command soon after but it took a while for it to go ahead with the move, said party insiders, who acknowledged that the AICC had been miffed over the working of several offices bearers of the Himachal unit.
The functioning of the state government, particularly the unwanted controversies around the nameplate order for the street vendors and communal clashes over an illegal mosque in Sanjauli in Mandi, too raised doubts in the minds of the high command, said party insiders.
“The move to dissolve the state unit is not linked to the functioning of the state government. As far as I understand, the party chief’s order does not mention the PCC chief’s post but in the end, the Congress president has to take the final call in all such matters. If he wishes, there may be a change. The changes at the district and block level had not been done for long,” HP minister Rajesh Dharmani told ETV Bharat.
The sudden order came around the time Kharge was in Maharashtra to attend a Maha Vikas Aghadi rally in the poll-bound state. Over the past few days, Sukhu’s government got an endorsement from Kharge who highlighted the social welfare schemes being implemented to counter Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s charges. Earlier, Sukhu had managed to save himself from an alleged attempt by the BJP to topple his government by buying out six rebel MLAs.
