6 MLAs, 9 municipal councillors skip Congress' meeting over Himachal Pradesh civic poll
India Today
The Congress leaders missed the crucial pre-poll meeting despite their assurances to Sonia Gandhi in Delhi last week.
Leaders of the Himachal Congress failed to present a united house during a crucial meeting on Wednesday ahead of the civic body polls, despite assuring Congress President Sonia Gandhi in Delhi last week.
Nine of the 12 municipal councillors of the Congress and half a dozen Congress legislatures, who are members of the 42-member poll committee, skipped the meeting called by the party high command to chalk out a strategy for the municipal elections. It was chaired by the state affairs in-charge Rajeev Shukla in Shimla.
Those who did not attend the meeting include AICC Secretary Asha Kumari, former Himachal Congress Committee chief Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, Vikramaditya Singh, Harshvardhan Chauhan, Anirudh Singh, and Rohit Thakur.
The poll manifesto committee chief Harsh Mahajan, Himachal Congress chief Kuldeep Singh Rathore, and Leader of the Opposition Mukesh Agnihotri were also present at the meeting.
A divided house, the two raval factions of Himachal Congress leaders welcomed Rajeev Shukla separately. While Kuldeep Rathore and his supporters met Shukla at the Rajiv Bhavan, Congress general secretary Rajnish Kimta met him at the State Circuit House.
Meanwhile, Rajeev Shukla refused to comment on a possible organisational reshuffle in the state Congress, saying that a call would be taken by Sonia Gandhi.
Congress is prepared to contest the civic elections and claimed that AAP wouldn't not be able to make any impact in the Assembly elections later this year, Shukla stressed.
