Notwithstanding the ancient party’s majority in the Vidhan Sabha, Congress candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi was defeated by BJP nominee Harsh Mahajan. There is a déjà vu quality to the hill state crisis: party MLA infighting and simmering resentment have once again been ignored by the Congress high leadership.
The Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh fell in 2020 because of such rank disinterest; the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) regime in Karnataka had disintegrated due to defections the year before. The BJP came out ahead in both situations.
Source: Outlook IndiaHimachal Pradesh
It seems that the leaders of the Congress party thought the Rajya Sabha election in HP would be an easy one. Overconfident, it had no plan to keep the flock together and appease legislators who were becoming disgruntled in good time.
There are significant divisions within the party, as seen by the fact that Vikramaditya Singh, the son of state Congress leader Pratibha Singh and former chief minister Virbhadra Singh, had to be appeased after he chose to resign as a minister. As usual, the BJP is taking advantage of these weaknesses in the opposition side.
Source: NDTV
The Congress has only taken control of one northern state, Himachal Pradesh, after successfully unseating the BJP in December 2022. But only fifteen months later, it is having difficulty upholding the voters’ mandate. The high command has committed to acting toughly for the benefit of the party. The Congress has a history of locking the stable door after the horse has run away. It should have been possible to stop things from getting to this point earlier. The Sukhu government will require a great deal of fire fighting to remain in office.
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