As the Congress-led Himachal Pradesh government marked two years of its tenure Wednesday, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has come under the spotlight, who after facing multiple challenges on various fronts seems to have emerged stronger politically.
Sukhu took the helm after the Congress ousted the BJP from power in the November 2022 Assembly election, bagging 40 out of 68 seats as against the latter’s 25 seats.
Sukhu’s troubles began in February last year, after the Congress leadership’s handpicked nominee for the Rajya Saha election, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, suffered a shock defeat at the hands of the BJP’s Harsh Mahajan due to cross-voting by six rebel Congress MLAs. Three independent MLAs who had supported the Congress government also voted for Mahajan.
As the Congress high command was left red-faced, the Sukhu government was pushed to the brink as PWD minister Vikramaditya Singh, son of former party stalwart and ex-CM late Virbhadra Singh, announced his resignation from the Cabinet.
The Congress leadership had to send two senior leaders, former Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar, to Shimla as troubleshooters to defuse the crisis.
Vikramaditya’s mother Pratibha Singh has been the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC)’s president, even as Sukhu has had a long-running rivalry with the Virbhadra family.
The Sukhu dispensation started to claw back its stability when the Congress won four out of six Assembly seats in the by-elections, which were held along with the Lok Sabha polls in June after six rebel Congress MLAs were disqualified. In July, the Congress also won two out of three Assembly seat bypolls which were necessitated following the resignation of the Independent MLAs who joined the BJP. In the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP swept the state again, bagging all four seats.
In the Assembly, however, the Congress managed to regain its 40-member tally – a comfortable majority margin that restored its stability.
“Sukhu has emerged from his political challenges within the Congress and outside. Four Congress rebel MLAs out of six who revolted against him citing his adamant behavior and unilateral approach, lost in by-elections. They tried to topple the government with help of the BJP as part of its ‘Operation Lotus’, but failed. Sukhu’s wife Kamlesh Thakur also made her successful electoral debut by clinching the Dehra Assembly seat in a bypoll,” a Congress minister said.
“If Vikramaditya Singh had won the Mandi Lok Sabha seat against BJP candidate Kangana Ranaut, the Virbhadra family would have emerged as a challenger to Sukhu, but this did not happen,” he said.
Last month, Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge dissolved all the district and block units of the HPCC, while letting Pratibha Singh continue as its chief.
“It would be interesting to see how the new district and block Congress committees accommodate the loyalists of Sukhu and the Virbhadra family,” said a Congress activist.
In September, Vikramaditya was reprimanded by the Congress leadership for his purported remarks advocating the display of identities of street vendors at their food stalls like in UP. Congress sources said he assured the leadership that he would toe the party line on various issues.
On the administrative front, the Sukhu government has been affected by the financial crisis gripping the state for which the CM has blamed the previous Jairam Thakur-led BJP government. Sukhu has held the Jairam Thakur government responsible for leaving a debt of Rs 76,651 crore on the state exchequer by allegedly “wasting resources in distributing freebies” in the form of various subsidies “without properly identifying the beneficiaries”.
Attacking the Sukhu government, state BJP president Rajeev Bindal said, “It is jashn-e-barbadi (celebration of ruining the state). Congress had promised that every woman will get Rs 1,500 financial assistance monthly. But when they came to power, they made many conditions leaving half of the women in the state out of the ambit of this scheme Indira Gandhi Pyari Behna Sukh Samaan Nidhi Yojna (IGPBSSNY).”
Bindal also said, “Congress had promised to purchase cow dung but, cheating the rural people it later said it will purchase cow compost. Congress had promised 300 unit power for free, but now it is set to withdraw even 125 unit electricity subsidy started by BJP. This government doesn’t have money to pay salaries and pensions of employees and pensioners.”
Rejecting these allegations, state revenue minister Jagat Singh Negi, a confidant of Sukhu, however said, “The restoration of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) is one of our most notable reforms, benefiting over 1.36 lakh government employees, showcasing a commitment to address employees’ welfare.” He added that “Mukhyamantri Sukh Aashray Yojana and Sukh Shiksha Yojana to support orphans and children of widows are among our other welfare schemes.”
