The BJP in Himachal has its own problems. But it is not a party that sits around twiddling its thumb.
There is no kind way to say this. But the Congress has proved beyond a doubt that it is its own worst enemy. Recent events in Himachal Pradesh are just one example.
As its government in the state came close to collapse, supporters of the party are still wondering how things could have come to this.
When he was appointed to the position, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu showed so much promise.
But under his leadership, the party has been unable to consolidate its gains. Building on them is a far cry.
Sukhu raised expectations because he is a man who has come up through a struggle and has a direct connect to the ground.
He grew up doing manual labour -- he used to heave crates of milk to make a living in his early years and later graduated to selling milk.
When times got tough, he became a watchman with the state electricity department, and even got an offer from the state electricity board for the post of a TMate (a position equivalent to a helper).
His father was a bus driver with the Himachal Pradesh State Transport Corporation. So, no silver spoons here.
Ahead of the Himachal Pradesh elections (2022), the Congress made him chief of the campaign committee, which meant he had a say in selecting candidates.
This tilted the balance of advantage in his favour in getting the top job if the vote went to the Congress.
He knew the organisation: He had headed the state unit of the party and helmed the National Students' Union of India.
When the Congress won the assembly election with 40 seats out of 68, the high command had to choose between Pratibha Singh/Vikramaditya Singh, from the family of the legendary Virbhadra Singh, raja of Bushehr and Congress chief minister multiple times, who had died just a few months before the election; and Sukhu, who had the backing of Priyanka Gandhi and the largest number of members of the legislative assembly (MLAs).
After a tussle, Sukhu got the top job, though Vikramaditya became public works department minister.
As the state can only have only 12 ministers, other mechanisms to reward loyalists were adopted, like taking departments from one minister to give to another.
Those who lost departments (like Vikramaditya), while still being ministers, had to face public humiliation as they explained to constituents that they had not been disempowered, all the while secretly resolving to turn the tables on Sukhu at the earliest possible opportunity.
Floods in the state caused widespread devastation. Relief was quick -- but selective. MLAs complained of corruption and discrimination.
Rajinder Rana, MLA from Sujanpur, complained he had not been made minister though he had defeated former BJP chief minister P K Dhumal.
Rana found the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sympathetic -- after all, he had been in the BJP from 2006 to 2012.
When approached by his old friends, he became one of the Trojan horses.
He's been complaining about unemployment and incomplete works in his district Hamirpur for the past three months. Sukhu just ignored him.
Kangra is politically the most important district in Himachal Pradesh.
In the assembly election, the Congress won 10 of the 15 seats Kangra has.
But the district got just one minister.
And that man was not Sudhir Sharma, who was a minister in the Virbhadra Singh government.
Mandi, the Lok Sabha constituency of Virbhadra's widow, Pratibha, got no minister.
By contrast Shimla district had as many as three ministers.
Little wonder then that Sudhir Sharma began complaining about Sukhu's deliberate sidelining of Virbhadra loyalists from day one.
And he was one of the five people who led the rebellion against Sukhu, has been disqualified, and is knocking the door of the high court along with his colleagues.
Much is made of the fact that Sukhu is rustic and grounded. But he has proved lacking in one important quality: He's no statesman. It is the Congress in Delhi that ought to have realised this and counselled course-correction.
The BJP in Himachal has its own problems. But it is not a party that sits around twiddling its thumb.
It saw an opportunity and it acted, resulting in the embarrassing loss of a Rajya Sabha seat that should have been a shoo-in for the Congress.
The danger to the Sukhu government is by no means over.
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
