Himachal Congress in turmoil as leaders miffed over State unit’s functioning
The Hindu
Five-time MLA Ram Lal Thakur resigned as vice-president of HPCC citing “displeasure” over party operations
With the 2022 Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections a few months away, the Congress seems to be facing turmoil within its State unit amid disconnectedness among senior leaders and a section of the cadre, making it a stiff task for the party to wrest power from the ruling Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP).
The latest blow to the party was the recent resignation of senior leader and a five-time MLA Ram Lal Thakur from the post of vice-president of Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee, citing “displeasure” over party operations in the State.
Also Read | Himachal Pradesh Assembly polls | BJP strives to repeat victory
Asserting that he would continue to work for the party as the chairman of the election management committee, Mr. Thakur pointed out that the party high command should select candidates for the polls after sincere deliberation. He also pointed out that after the revamping exercise of the State unit in April this year, a ‘jumbo’ organisation of nearly 230 office-bearers was created, which did not seem to yield positive results.
A few days ago, Ashray Sharma, general secretary of the HPCC, resigned as a member of the party’s ‘Yuva Rozgar Yatra Committee’, which was set up to lead a march in each Assembly constituency to mobilise the unemployed youth in the party’s favour. Mr. Sharma, the grandson of former Telecom Minister late Pandit Sukh Ram, quit for being allegedly “sidelined”.
Last month, two Congress MLAs — Pawan Kajal and Lakhwinder Rana — quit the Congress and joined the BJP. Mr. Kajal was one of the working presidents of the Congress’ State unit. Both the leaders, the sources said, were perturbed by the party’s State leadership over the efforts being made to weaken them in their Assembly constituencies and promote other leaders against them.
Ahead of the meeting of the party’s screening committee, headed by Deepa Dasmunshi, likely to be held this week, a section of the cadre is anxious about the selection of candidates, especially for those Assembly seats where the BJP leaders, who had recently joined the Congress are in the running.