The Congress party’s choice of candidate for Mandi Lok Sabha seat in Himachal Pradesh is tied to its strategy of quelling factionalism in the State unit as well as provide stability to the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led government.
Sources told The Hindu that the son of former Chief Minister late Virbhadra Singh and State unit chief Pratibha Singh, Vikramaditya Singh, is most likely going to be pitted against BJP candidate and film actor Kangana Ranaut.
Ms. Pratibha had already announced her decision to opt out of the electoral race. The party is hoping that Mr Vikramaditya’s candidature would be able to paper over the cracks in the State unit, that have sharpened after the defeat of Abhishek M. Singhvi — the official Congress candidate in the recent Rajya Sabha election — due to cross-voting by six MLAs of the ruling party.
Soon after the embarrassing episode, the Congress cracked the whip on the rebels and got them disqualified by the Assembly Speaker for defying a whip to be present in the House during the passage of the Budget in the Assembly.
However, the fault lines within the party were clearly visible, with Mr Vikramditya and his mother, Ms. Pratibha, blaming Chief Minister for the Rajya Sabha fiasco. He had even resigned as a Minister of the Sukhu government but then took it back under pressure from the party high command.
Crucial bypolls
By fielding Mr. Vikramaditya, the Congress high command would be looking to forge factional unity as the State government’s survival also depends on the outcome of the bypolls to the six Assembly seats being held together with the Lok Sabha polls on June 1.
Other than the six Congress rebels, who are now contesting on BJP tickets after being disqualified, three Independent lawmakers also resigned, although the resignations of Independents have not yet been accepted by the State Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Pathania. The three Independents though have joined the BJP.
In the 68-member House, the majority mark is 35. After the disqualification of six MLAs, the strength of the Assembly has become 62 and majority figure has come down to 32. The ruling Congress has 34 MLAs and the BJP has 25 MLAs. If BJP wins all the six seats in the bypolls, and with the three Independents by its side, then both the Congress and BJP will have equal numbers.
The Congress, on the other hand, needs to win at least one seat in the bypolls to retain a simple majority in the Assembly.
“The trouble for the ruling Congress is not over yet as the bypolls simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections may give an advantage to the BJP. Also, the anti-incumbency factor against the Congress would be in play. On the other hand, for the BJP, the rising rebel voices could be a spoilsport after it declared all the six former Congress MLAs as its party candidates for the bypolls,” Harish Thakur, professor and former chairperson at the Department of Political Science at Himachal Pradesh University told The Hindu.
“The political situation is fluid and in case in future both the parties have equal seats, possibilities like floor test, imposition of President’s rule can’t be ruled out,” Mr. Thakur added.
