A key moment for the Congress

For a party struggling to maintain its national footprint, the Himachal Pradesh assembly elections win can provide a template

A student union leader who slowly rose through the ranks of the Congress, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu took oath as the seventh chief minister (CM) of Himachal Pradesh on Sunday. His ascension marks the end, at least for now, of the fractious fight that threatened to overshadow the party’s decisive victory in the assembly elections, and is also a move away for the Congress party in the state that has been helmed by the royal family formerly headed by stalwart Virbhadra Singh. Though the party appeared to have calmed the waters after two days of competing demonstrations and shows of strength — the compromise appeared to have come with the appointment of the former leader of opposition in the assembly, Mukesh Agnihotri, a man known to be close to the Singh family, as deputy CM — the road ahead for Mr Sukhu will be challenging.

Himachal Pradesh Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar, left, administers oath to chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, in Shimla, December11, 2022 (AP)

On top of the list is the promise of the Congress to restore the old pension scheme (OPS) for government employees and scrap the new, market-based pension plan in its first cabinet meeting. The promise may have been successful in wooing government employees — at 4% of the small state’s population, they comprise a vocal and decisive demographic — and made the difference in an election where around 38,000 votes separated the two major parties, but it will heavily burden the struggling exchequer. As this newspaper has noted before, though OPS is more generous for employees because it guarantees pay commission and inflation- indexed payouts that are not linked to employer contributions, it translates into steeper pension bills for governments and diverts money from development and infrastructure to pensions. Other problems — such as the woes of apple growers struggling with climate vagaries and crashing prices and sluggish employment growth, a key issue in the lower Himachal region — are not completely in the hands of the state government to resolve, and will require deft handling to stem the discontent.

This is an important moment for the Congress. Two other states where it is in power go to the polls next year, and in both, the party is riven by factionalism between two sets of powerful leaders. For a party struggling to maintain its national footprint, the ability to set its house in order and calm disarray is crucial. If the peace in the hills holds, Himachal may provide a political template for the Congress going forward.