New Delhi, March 20 -- Alleging that conditions for the party victory were not favourable in the Lok Sabha polls, Congress MP and PCC president Pratibha Singh has decided to opt out from the ensuing election in Himachal Pradesh.
She was elected to the Parliament in the by-poll held for BJP's dominant seat-Mandi in 2021. The seat was earlier presented by two-time MP Ram Swaroop Sharma.
It's known that Pratibha Singh was unhappy with Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, who was elected to the post in 2022 after the Congress returned to power winning 40 seats against 25 of the BJP. Three independents-all BJP rebels also had extended support to the government.
But, things have changed drastically after the February 27 cross-voting for the lone Rajya Sabha seat that saw the defeat of the Congress candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi.
Harsh Mahajan, former loyalist of Virbhadra Singh, now in the BJP, was elected in a stunning party victory. This had brought the Sukhu government to a virtual collapse.
Now, when the Congress has to get ready for the Lok Sabha polls, Pratibha Singh has fired a salvo--second after she earlier had blamed the Chief Minister for being responsible for the MLA's rebellion and the cross-voting.
The state party chief Pratibha Singh on Wednesday announced that she has decided not to contest the Lok Sabha elections as 'the ground situation is not favourable'.
She told reporters in Shimla that she has declined to contest the elections.
"I have told the party leaders in Delhi that I am not in a position to put up a fight. You cannot win polls just by distributing MPLAD funds," she said.
Pratibha Singh claimed that the party workers were demoralised and left wondering if they were being taken care of during the past 14 months of the Congress government.
She has returned to Shimla after attending the meeting of the party 's working committee which was also attended by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and AICC in-charge for Himachal Pradesh Rajeev Shukla.
The meeting also assessed the political situation in the state and discussed the names of probable candidates for which the PCC has sent a panel of three names each.
But Pratibha Singh seems to have put the party leaders in a dilemma as she was seen as a potential candidate owing to Virbhadra Singh's influence in the constituency, spread through half of Himachal Pradesh districts, including Kinnaur,Chamba, and Lahaul Spiti, beside Shimla.
To reporters, Pratibha Singh said "Fourteen months is a long period and I have been consistently urging the chief minister to accommodate leaders who worked hard for the victory of the party but nothing was done,"
"Had the issues of the disgruntled MLAs been addressed on time, the crisis could have been avoided", she added.
The Congress won the Mandi seat in 2009 and Virbhadra Singh became a minister in the Manmohan Singh-led government.
In December 2012, Virbhadra became the chief minister, and his wife Pratibha was elected as the Mandi MP in the by-elections.
However, in the 2014 election, Pratibha lost to BJP's Ram Swaroop Sharma, who won again in 2019, defeating Aashray Sharma of the Congress by getting 4.05 lakh votes. In 2021, Sharma ended his life at his house in Delhi. Following this, Pratibha was elected an MP from Mandi in a by-poll. Mandi is the only constituency under Congress control.
Lok Sabha voting for next general elections will start across the country from April 19 but voting in Himachal Pradesh for four Lok Sabha seats, simultaneously with six bypoll in the Assembly will be held in the seventh phase on June 1.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.