The States
The Old Man of the Hills Makes a Royal Return
Virbhadra Singh campaigned to bring the Congress to power in Himachal Pradesh, helped, of course, by the infighting in the BJP
Rakesh Lohumi

IT was a politically eventful year marked by tumultuous developments in the two mainstream parties, culminating in the exit of the BJP and return of the Congress to power in the state with the indomitable Virbhadra Singh taking over as Chief Minister for a record sixth time.

It will also be remembered for the landmark judgment delivered by the Green Bench of the State High Court imposing a fine of Rs 100 crore on the Jaypee Company for the violation of environmental norms.

The assembly polls were due at the fag end of the year but the state went into election mode from the very outset. There was hectic political activity during the run up to the polls and intense infighting in the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress led to a premature change in leadership.

The BJP suffered a setback when a large number of Shanta Kumar loyalists, led by former state BJP chief Maheshwar Singh, deserted its ranks to float a new political outfit, Himachal Lokhit Party. The indifferent high command tried further damage control by replacing Khimi Ram as the state party president by Satpal Satti but it failed to bridge the factional divide. Health minister Rajiv Bindal, who was being relentlessly targeted by the Shanta Kumarcamp and the Congress, was forced to resign from the Dhumal Cabinet.

The framing of charges in the controversial audio CD case against Congress supremo Virbhadra Singh proved to be a turning point in the state politics. He resigned as Union Minister but returned to lead the party to victory in the assembly elections. He demonstrated his strength repeatedly by organising a series of informal get-togethers of MLAs in Shimla. As the Assembly elections drew near, he camped in Delhi with his supporters and almost adopted rebellious postures. The tactics worked and the high command appointed him as the Pradesh Congress Committee Chief in place of Kaul Singh.

The unexpected move upset the calculations of Chief Minister Dhumal, who announced all kind of sops to woo the employees, workers and other sections. However, it did not help.The red flag flew high in state capital as the year saw the resurgence of the CPM after a gap of almost two decades.

Allegations of corruption flew thick and fast in the election year as the Congress and the CPM attacked the BJP on land deals, private universities and ecotourism projects. The government was accused of putting the state on sale. The BJP used the Benami Commission report to counter the charges and put the previous Congress government in the dock. The campaign, backed by the State Cricket Association, headed by Dhumal's cricketer son Anurag Thakur, to take over the control of historic Annandale led to an unseemly controversy with the government picking up a confrontation with the Army. The green bench of the state high court delivered a landmark verdict to impose a fine of Rs 100 crore on the Jaypee Group for setting up a thermal plant and cement plant and flouting environmental norms.

In another pronouncement, with far-reaching implications, the bench made Vehicle Tracking System (VTS) mandatory for all commercial vehicles from April next along with installation of mechanical or electronic toll collection systems at barriers. The government was pulled up by the high court for not taking prompt action.

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