Is Congress staring at self-inflicted crisis in Himachal Pradesh?

The Congress in poll-bound Himachal Pradesh is in disarray as the central leadership has failed to check the growing resentment in the party, forcing many state leaders to jump the ship.

Sources said a top Brahmin face of the party is feeling sidelined as a result he is mulling quitting the Congress.

He is in talks with senior leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for his possible induction. Prior to this, he had approached the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) but the discussions could not lead to any final positive outcome ostensibly over the leadership issue.

The sources added that the Congress party's Himachal Pradesh in-charge Rajiv Shukla had been apprised of the development but is yet to reach out to the disgruntled leader.

Shukla, who is said to be Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's choice, is already under fire from local leaders for his alleged close ties with some BJP leaders, including union minister Anurag Thakur and home minister Amit Shah's son Jay Shah. Both Shukla and Jay Shah are in the cash-rich BCCI (Board for Control of Cricket in India).

As reported by Newsdrum first, the Congress high command had earlier rejected Shukla's proposal to appoint Mukesh Agnihotri as the state unit chief in place of Kuldeep Singh Rathore.

The Congress leadership decided to rely on the legacy of late party stalwart and longest-serving chief minister Virbhadra Singh and named his wife Pratibha Singh as the Himachal Congress chief.

Many state leaders have repeatedly complained to the Congress high command about Shukla's arbitrary style of functioning and claimed that his handling of the party's affairs might push the hill state in the BJP's lap once again.

The inaction on the part of the Congress leadership is prompting a number of lower-rung party leaders to consider the AAP as an option.

The emergence of AAP appears to have upset Congress's calculations. The grand old party was expecting to convincingly oust the BJP this time given that Himachal Pradesh is a cyclic state where no incumbent government has returned to power with the exception of 1985 when late Virbhadra Singh had opted for mid-term polls to encash the Indira Gandhi assassination wave and to consolidate his grip over the state.

Singh was made the chief minister in 1983 after his predecessor late Ram Lal Thakur had to resign over tree felling allegations - a sensitive issue in the hills.

To make matters worse, Congress is yet to give a shape to its campaign strategy or start the process of identifying potential candidates.

On the other hand, the BJP, to beat the anti-incumbency against it, is mulling dropping at least 60% of sitting legislators in its bid to retain power in the state. The saffron party had adopted this strategy in many other states in the past with considerable success.

However, the loss in the by-elections in Himachal Pradesh in November last year had come as a huge jolt for the ruling party, that even forced the central government to reduce fuel prices to some extent. Since then, the BJP is pulling all stops to negate any adverse impact of anti-incumbency against its government.

There is also a possibility that the BJP might give tickets to some turncoats, including those from Congress.

It is interesting to see how these equations will play out in the coming months.