Shimla: Several prominent Congress leader in Himachal Pradesh, who are feeling sidelined in the party, have started coming together for 2022 assembly elections and are openly expressing their dissatisfaction with the functioning of the organisational setup in the state.
A luncheon meeting on Saturday at the residence of senior party leader Kaul Singh Thakur has sent ripples in the state Congress, as quite a few of such leaders attended it and reportedly decided to appraise the party command about the situation prevailing in the organisation.
Highly-placed sources said after this luncheon, another meeting over dinner is likely to be held on Monday, which may see participation of more discontented leaders.
So far, the Congress politics in the state has been largely dominated by the faction led by former chief minister Virbhadra Singh, to which Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Mukesh Agnihotri and state party president Kuldeep Rathore owe their allegiance.
But, ahead of the 2022 state polls, a strong faction is emerging with leaders like Kaul Singh, MLA Harshvardhan Singh Chauhan, former state president Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, former minister Sudhir Sharma, MLA Ashish Butel, former chief parliamentary secretary Rohit Thakur and Sohan Lal. Leaders from even warring sides joining hands can spell trouble for the Virbhadra faction ahead of 2022.
Sources said during the lunch, it was decided that the party command would be told that winning the next polls would not be possible with the present organisational setup. They said in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the party had faced a crushing defeat on all the four seats and failed to take lead even in a single assembly constituency out of 68.
In the last year’s assembly by-elections, the party lost both Pachhad (SC) and Dharamshala seats, with the Dharamshala candidate forfeiting his security deposit. The leaders reportedly also vent their anger over being ignored in the party meetings.
The sources said it was decided that a meeting of Congress leaders will be held soon, in which senior leaders like Asha Kumari, Ramlal Thakur, G S Bali, Viplov Thakur and Kuldeep Kumar will also be called.
A senior leader, requesting anonymity, said that Kuldeep Rathore has never contested an election while CLP leader Mukesh Agnihotri comes from Una district, which only has five assembly seats. Under such setup, winning election would be difficult, he said.
