Pratibha Singh to take charge as HP Congress president on May 5
She is in Delhi to meet Sonia and other Congress leaders
SHIMLA: Handpicked by the Congress for state party president's post –Pratibha Singh, MP and wife of former chief minister Virbhadra Singh, has reached Delhi to meet Sonia Gandhi and other Congress leaders, before she takes charge on May 5.
Her appointment to the post, just ahead of the state Assembly elections, is purely aimed to encash on the ‘legacy' factor, which the Congress wants to invoke in the state, which alternatively witnesses change of power between the BJP and the Congress.
Six-time Chief Minister and a congress stalwart had always been successful to turn the tables on the BJP to bring the party back to power, after every five year.
The Congress, thus, thinks it will be able to pull the rags out of the BJP chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur by making Pratibha Singh as party Chief, though, the Congress hasn't named anyone as Chief Ministerial face.
Former PCC president and sitting MLA Sukhwinder Sukhu, who has been appointed as chairman of the Congress' campaign committee, is another contender for the Chief Ministerial post.
Party insiders rather say, the party had weighed options between Sukhu and Congress
Legislature Party (CLP) leader Mukesh Agnihotri for the post with a pre-condition that whosoever gets appointed as party president, will not contest the Assembly poll.
The choice thereafter was felt for Pratibha Singh, as both the leaders declined to opt out of electoral politics.
Advantage with Pratibha Singh will obviously be significant for utilising the strength of Holly-Lodge, Virbhadra's private bungalow in Shimla, held to make a dent in the BJP strongholds and thus help in the Congress victory in the polls. She had won the Mandi Lok Sabha bypoll in 2021 and that really raised her political graph in the Congress circles but much of her success is attributed to "sympathy" vote for Virbhadra Singh, who died in July 2021.
“He (Virbhadra) has an amazing contact with the masses, besides being an aggressive campaigner in the polls. He was never afraid of bullying the party high command whenever some central leaders tried to side-line him or conspire to keep him out of the Chief Ministerial position. This was because he enjoyed a real mass base support,” said Harish Janartha, a former Shimla deputy Mayor and loyalist.
Pratibha Singh has already sent clear signals that she will build up the Congress party's campaign on development works of Virbhadra Singh and his 60-year-old political legacy.
During her stay in Delhi, she will take tips from Sonia Gandhi and start touring the state.
“We want to make May 5 as a mega event in Shimla when Pratibha Singh, myself and other newly appointed working presidents, will take charge of the party,” informs Sukhwinder Singh, chairman of the election campaign committee.
The party, he says, will also hold a public meeting as a show of strength and declare a war against the BJP government for its ouster.
With AAP also making its presence felt in the state, ahead of the poll, the state is set to witness a triangular contest as the BJP, after winning elections in the four states, believes that it can buck the old trend about incumbent party not returning back to power.