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Himachal: Revolt in Congress; crucial ‘unity’ meeting to be held on June 12
Sirmaur leaders seek ouster of district president Ajay Bhadur Singh; some upset over ‘lopsided’ appointments
At a time when the Congress is striving hard to bring about unity ahead of the assembly elections, its leaders in Sirmaur district have revolted against the party, seeking the ouster of district president Ajay Bhadur Singh. Few party legislators are also upset over the ‘lopsided’ appointments in the party.
The party is organising a ‘unity’ meeting -- Bharat Jodo Sadhbhavna Sammelan -- on Sunday. Himachal Congress chief Pratibha Singh will preside over the meeting, whereas Imran Pratapgarhi, national president of AICC’s minority cell and party’s co-incharge in Himachal, secretary Tejinder Pal Singh Bittu, Renuka legislator Vinay Kumar will take part in the meeting and Shimla Rural MLA Vikramaditya Singh will be the guest of honour.
More than 200 party workers and leaders gathered in Nahan to express annoyance over the functioning of district president Ajay Bhadur. They vented ire against the leadership and said that senior leaders’ names were printed on the invitation cards for the unity meeting while Vikramaditya has been invited as guest of honour. They were upset that the names of five-time legislator Harshwardhan Chauhan and former speaker Gangu Ram Musafir, who been elected to the assembly seven times, were missing.
The leaders passed a resolution against Ajay Bhadur and shot off a letter to AICC secretary and in-charge of Himachal affairs Rajeev Shukla. The Congress leaders said if the party fails to meet their demand, they would constitute a parallel organisation in the district.
The letter mentions that Ajay Bhadur, who is 78 years old, had initially expressed his inability to work actively for the party and later announced to quit active politics. They alleged that during his tenure of more than two and half years as district party chief, Ajay failed to organise even a single meeting. In the letter, party leaders complained that Ajay had played an instrumental role in sidelining Kush Parmar, son of the former CM YS Parmar, who had been legislator from Nahan twice and from Paonta Sahib thrice. “Ajay works according to his convenience and acts like the B team of the BJP,” the letter mentioned.
Meanwhile, a revolt-like situation is also brewing in Shimla district after the rejig in the party. Jubbal Kotkhai legislator Rohit Thakur is upset over attempts being made to “belittle” him in the party.
The party had appointed as many as 17 office-bearers in the PCC from his assembly segment without his consultation and not even a single office-bearer was appointed from the Kasumpti segment, which is represented by two-time MLA Anirudh Singh.
His political adversary Vijay Jyoti once in the Congress had contested the election on a BJP ticket from Kasumpti and is a close relative of state president Pratibha Singh.
