Shimla: Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday dissolved the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC), including its district and block units, with immediate effect. This move is part of a plan to restructure the Congress Party's Himachal Pradesh unit, which has remained unchanged since the party took power in the state.
"The entire state unit of PCC, as well as district and block Congress committees, have been dissolved with immediate effect. State Congress chief Pratibha Singh will remain unchanged," Naresh Chauhan, media advisor to the Chief Minister, told PTI.
Singh, who assumed the state Congress leadership in April 2022, is also a member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party's highest decision-making body. She is the wife of former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.
Earlier, AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal announced, "Congress president has approved the proposal to dissolve the entire state unit of the PCC, district presidents and Block Congress Committees of Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee, with immediate effect."
Factionalism has been a longstanding issue for the Himachal Pradesh Congress, notably during the Rajya Sabha election in February, when Congress nominee Abhishek Singhvi lost to BJP's Harsh Mahajan following defection and cross-voting by some Congress MLAs, PTI reported. After shifting to the BJP, Mahajan was appointed as one of the working presidents of Himachal BJP.
Several names, including ministers Anirudh Singh and Harshvardhan Chauhan, are under consideration for the new state Congress chief. Himachal BJP Chief Spokesperson Randhir Sharma commented on the development, saying, "The BJP has been repeatedly alleging that internal fighting in the state Congress was at its peak, and the action of the AICC president has proved us right.
''The balloon of internal revolt has exploded, and more troubles are occurring for the party as Congress workers are expressing their annoyance publicly," he added.