Facing Internal Division, Congress Dissolves State Unit In Himachal Pradesh

The Congress on Wednesday (6 November) dissolved all its organisational units in Himachal Pradesh, a move coming nearly five months after its disappointing results in the Lok Sabha elections in the hill state.

In the recent Lok Sabha elections, the Congress was unable to secure victory in any of the four parliamentary seats in Himachal Pradesh, including Mandi, where its candidate and state minister Vikramaditya Singh contested against actor and BJP leader Kangana Ranaut but was defeated.

All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary KC Venugopal announced in an official statement that party president Mallikarjun Kharge approved the dissolution of the entire Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC), district presidents, and Block Congress Committees in Himachal Pradesh, with immediate effect, Business Today reported.

Pratibha Singh is the Congress president in Himachal Pradesh and is also a member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC).

She was appointed to her role in 2022, and there has been no announcement suggesting any changes to her position within the CWC following the party's Himachal unit's dissolution.

Internal divisions within Congress also came to the fore during the Rajya Sabha by-elections earlier this year when Abhishek Manu Singhvi was defeated by BJP's Harsh Mahajan.

Six Congress MLAs had cross-voted in support of Mahajan, resulting in Singhvi's loss.

The six MLAs were later disqualified for violating the party whip by voting in favour of the finance bill in the state assembly.

During this time, Congress leader Vikramaditya Singh announced his resignation from Sukhu's cabinet, citing alleged attempts to humiliate and undermine him.

Singh pointed out that although the Congress contested the 2022 assembly elections in the name of his father, former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, the party had not managed to find a small plot of land on Mall Road to install the former CM's statue.

Later, Singh withdrew his resignation, citing "the larger interest and unity of the party."

Since winning 40 out of 68 seats in the 2022 assembly elections, the party had made no changes to the Pradesh Congress Committee.

However, this is not the first time that the Congress has dissolved its Himachal unit.

In 2019, the party made a similar move but retained Kuldeep Singh Rathore as the state president despite the dissolution of the state unit.

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