By Prashant Sood, IANS,
New Delhi : Steel Minister and former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh has accused the state leadership of his Congress party of failing to put up an effective challenge to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.
In an unusually candid interview, Virbhadra Singh said the party rank and file was demoralised as there was “nobody to protect” them from the “suppression” of the BJP government.
He accused Kaul Singh, the state Congress president, of failing to discharge his responsibilities properly and Vidya Stokes, leader of the opposition in the state assembly, of being “very soft” towards the government.
“The Congress cannot be strengthened under the present leadership in the state,” Virbhadra Singh told IANS here, adding that Stokes might have gone soft vis-a-vis the BJP government due to her age.
Virbhadra Singh, a five-time chief minister and a five-time MP, said the Congress had 23 members in the 68-seat assembly, “a huge number”.
“They can give a fight to the government but are unable to serve as effective opposition. Many are trying to curry favours (with the government),” he said, adding that it sent wrong signals vis-a-vis party workers.
The minister said that due to what he described as the ineffectiveness of the state party leadership, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal “had become active in suppressing party workers”.
He said false cases were being registered against party workers and there “is nobody to protect them”.
Virbhadra Singh also asserted that denying a party ticket to his wife Pratibha Singh for the Rohru assembly by-election in November last year was a mistake.
The seat was won by the BJP for the first time in almost three decades.
He said some party leaders, including Kaul Singh and Vidya Stokes, had given a wrong picture to the high command about his wife.
“I represented the constituency for almost 20 years and resigned from the seat to become an MP. People were very keen that somebody from my family represent it. Pratibha nursed the seat in my absence,” he said.
Without naming Congress candidate Manjit Thakur, Virbhadra Singh said the party fielded a lightweight.
“I campaigned for him (party candidate) for eight days though I campaign for only one or two days for my own election,” he said.
Virbhadra Singh said that the new state chief should be elected “in a democratic way” in the party’s organisational elections which are expected to end in July.
“I laud (Congress general secretary) Rahul Gandhi for holding democratic elections in the Youth Congress and the NSUI (National Students Union of India). The same method should be adopted in the parent body,” he said.
“There can be no substitute for elections. Leaders who have a base will get elected,” he added.
Virbhadra Singh is widely considered the most popular leader of the Congress in Himachal Pradesh. He has ruled the hill for more than 17 years.
The Himachal Congress is broadly divided into two factions, one led by Virbhadra Singh and the other by Vidya Stokes.