High command to decide on Pratibha Singh’s Lok Sabha poll candidature, says Congress Himachal Pradesh in-charge Rajeev Shukla

Chandigarh, March 27

Himachal Pradesh Congress chief Pratibha Singh has left the decision on contesting the Lok Sabha polls to the party high command, the grand old party’s in-charge for the hill state, Rajeev Shukla, said on Wednesday.

Singh, the member of Parliament from Mandi in Himachal Pradesh, had recently said she had decided not to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls as the situation on the ground was “not favourable” and the party workers were disheartened.

Shukla was talking to reporters after a six-member committee formed by the Congress to ensure better coordination between its Himachal Pradesh government and party organisation in the hill state met here.

Asked about her earlier statement on not contesting the Lok Sabha polls, Singh said, “I have conveyed it to the high command. Now let us see what decision it takes.”

Besides Singh, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri and other Congress leaders were present at the meeting chaired by Shukla.

The meeting was held to firm up the strategy and discuss the names of probable candidates from the hill state for the general election.

Replying to a reporter’s question, Shukla said, “We will win all 10 seats (in Himachal Pradesh) — four in the Lok Sabha and six in the Assembly bypolls.”

The Congress government in the hill state is going strong and will complete its term, he asserted.

Asked if Singh will contest the Lok Sabha polls, Shukla said such decisions will be taken by the party high command. “She has left it to the high command and said she will abide by its decision,” the Congress leader said.

With the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) naming six disqualified Congress MLAs on Tuesday as its candidates for the Himachal Pradesh Assembly bypolls, Sukhu said the Congress is poised to win all the six seats.

Talking to reporters here after the nearly-two-hour-long meeting, Singh said, “We will work together. We have to win the Lok Sabha polls.”

She said another meeting will be held to finalise the party’s candidates for Himachal Pradesh.

Asked about some Congress leaders switching over to the BJP ahead of the general election, Shukla said such developments take place during polls.

Asked about Congress MP from Punjab’s Ludhiana Ravneet Singh Bittu joining the BJP, he took a dig at the saffron party, saying it does not have strong leaders. “The Congress is like a huge sea where there is no dearth of leaders,” he asserted.

Sukhu said “we are fully geared up for the Lok Sabha polls”.

Before the meeting, asked about Singh’s statement that she will not contest the Lok Sabha polls from Mandi, Agnihotri told reporters that he hopes that the Himachal Pradesh Congress chief will reconsider her decision. “We will talk to her,” he said.

On the six Congress rebels joining the BJP, the deputy chief minister claimed that there would be rebellion in the saffron party now.

Replying to a question, Agnihotri said “there is no threat to our government”. He asserted that the Congress is comfortably placed despite the exit of the six MLAs.

When told that more Congress MLAs are said to be in touch with the BJP, Agnihotri played it down, saying, “Whatever has happened has happened…. Dil behlane ke liye Ghalib ye Khayal achha hai.”

The members of the Congress coordination committee for Himachal Pradesh include Sukhu, Agnihotri and Singh.

Senior party leaders Kaul Singh Thakur, Dhaniram Shandil and Ram Lal Thakur are the other members of the panel.

The formation of the committee was suggested by three central observers of the Congress — Bhupinder Hooda, Bhupesh Baghel and D K Shivakumar — after discussions with various factions of the party’s Himachal Pradesh unit when the state government was facing an existential crisis after some MLAs broke ranks and voted for the BJP in the Rajya Sabha election on February 27.

Congress nominee Abhishek Singhvi lost the election after the six rebel Congress MLAs cross-voted. The speaker disqualified the six Congress MLAs and the party now has 34 legislators in the hill state.

The Lok Sabha polls are scheduled to be held in seven phases starting April 19. The counting of votes will be taken up on June 4.