Himachal Pradesh Congress chief quits, rebel secretary shown the door

Shimla, March 6

Sending out a stern message to six disqualified rebel MLAs in Himachal Pradesh, All-India Congress Committee president Mallikarjun Kharge today removed Sudhir Sharma as AICC Secretary with immediate effect. Shortly after, Rajinder Rana, one of the six disqualified MLAs, resigned from the post of the working president of Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee.

Sharma’s removal and Rana’s resignation make it clear that the possibility of their return to the Congress is all but over. The reactions and comments from both the leaders suggest that their exit from the party is imminent. In his post on social media today, Sharma took a dig at both the state government and the party high command by calling the central leadership blindfolded and the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu government dictatorial. “After enduring insult several times, we finally listened to our conscience and decided to fight the injustice openly. There’s not even a hint of regret over the decision, rather we are proud of it,” Sharma wrote on his Facebook page. Incidentally, Rana is the third HPCC working president to leave the post since four working presidents – Harsh Mahajan, Rajinder Rana, Pawan Kajal and Vinay Kumar – were appointed in April 2022. Mahajan and Kajal had switched to the BJP just before the Assembly election last year. Now, only Vinay Kumar is with the party.

Meanwhile, PWD Minister Vikramaditya Singh, who had met the rebels at a Panchkula hotel before heading to Delhi to meet the party High Command, said the doors were not closed permanently on anyone in politics. “Home Minister Amit Shah had said that the doors had been closed on Nitish Kumar. But the doors have been opened again and Nitish Kumar is NDA’s Chief Minister in Bihar. Everything is possible in politics,” said Vikramaditya Singh.