What is brewing in the Himachal Congress?

New Delhi: Former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh's son Vikramaditya Singh seems to be preparing a roadmap for his future politics in the hill state. 

He had on Sunday invited two Congress leaders from each of the 68 assembly constituencies to Shimla for a meeting to discuss the road ahead for the Raja Virbhadra Singh Foundation that was established by his family to take forward the social and charitable work the late leader had undertaken during his lifetime.

At the time of setting up the foundation, Vikramaditya, who is also the public works department minister, had asserted that it would be a totally non-political organisation, which had been established with the sole purpose of taking forward the good work that his father had done as the Himachal Pradesh chief minister for six times, legislator for 10 terms and also as a union minister.

But his Sunday meeting cannot be described as apolitical at all.

He is keen to establish himself as a pan-Himachal leader and take forward the legacy of his late father who undoubtedly was one of the most popular leaders of the hill state.

There were reports last year suggesting that Vikramaditya was planning to launch a new party, Virbhadra Congress, to create a third force in the state. However, he shelved the plan that time and instead launched the foundation to test the waters.

In the recent past, Vikramaditya's popularity has soared as compared to chief minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu who is witnessing a very strong anti-incumbency against his government.

The Congress high command is aware of the perceived growing unpopularity of Sukhu as a result of which the party is facing the heat.

It was during his tenure that the ruling Congress could not win a Rajya Sabha seat from the state. Harsh Mahajan, who had been a Congress loyalist for almost 40 years, quit the grand old party to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) just before the Rajya Sabha elections early last year. He had squarely blamed Sukhu for his exit. Mahajan went on to defeat his former party colleague Abhishek Manu Singhvi due to cross-voting by six Congress legislators, who were later disqualified by the Speaker. 

This was for the first time in the history of Himachal politics that the ruling party had lost a Rajya Sabha election. Initially, the Congress had planned to field former party chief Sonia Gandhi from the seat but dropped the idea following reports suggesting that many Congress legislators were in touch with the BJP to bring down the Sukhu government.

The party high command had then rushed Karnataka deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar to Shimla to avert the crisis. In his report, Shivakumar had held Sukhu responsible for the Rajya Sabha defeat and the rebellion of the legislators, insisting that the chief minister had failed to tackle the brewing dissent within the Congress. 

It is well-known in Himachal political circles that Sukhu doesn't get along well with his cabinet and party colleagues. 

Take for example, deputy chief minister Mukesh Agnihotri. He had last month created a huge political buzz with his social media post, hinting at a conspiracy against him. "Saajishon ka daur, jhoot ke paon nahi hote. (This is an era of conspiracies but falsehood doesn’t hold ground)," Agnihotri wrote on Facebook on May 3. 

The broad message in the post was very clear. He and Sukhu have been at loggerheads right from the beginning of the Congress government in 2022. The differences continue to persist, paralysing both the governance and the party affairs.

Before this episode, there were three visible factions in the Himachal Congress - one owing allegiance to Sukhu, second to Vikramaditya and the third one to Agnihotri.

With his mismanagement and misrule, Sukhu had successfully managed to bring Vikramaditya and Agnihotri on one platform. 

In response to Agnihotri's post, Vikramaditya also took to Facebook to come out in support of the deputy chief minister. "When people start plotting against you, it’s a testament to your exceptional abilities. You are a disciple of Virbhadra Singh school of thought, never be scared, nor threaten anyone for no reason," he wrote.

Vikramaditya had aligned with Agnihotri to form a united front against Sukhu.
The social media posts by its two senior leaders had triggered speculation that the Himachal Congress was going through a turmoil with differences between various factions coming out in the open.

Several ministers and party legislators have repeatedly complained to the Congress leadership of Sukhu's arrogance and his inability to handle the crisis situations besides his over dependence on his coterie and bureaucracy. The BJP often describes his government as "mitron ki Sarkar (government of friends)".

It has also been observed that some of his close confidants remain in touch with Vikramaditya. The chairpersons and vice chairpersons of different boards, appointed by Sukhu, have been seen paying obeisance at Vikramaditya's durbar. Knowing that Vikramaditya is the future leader of the state, some of the Sukhu loyalists want to keep their channels of communication open with Virbhadra Singh's son.