Ahead of June 1 Lok Sabha elections and assembly by-polls to be held simultaneously in Himachal Pradesh, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Sunday expressed confidence that people of the State will support her party and truth will prevail.
“On one hand, there is the BJP’s pursuit of power by using money and agencies, destroying democracy in the process; and on the other, there is the Congress’ resolve to work tirelessly for the people with truth, courage, and patience,” she said in a social media post.
Priyanka, in her post in Hindi on X, said: “I met all leaders of the Congress party in Himachal Pradesh. I am proud of their unity, hard work, courage to contest elections strongly, and their dedication towards the people.”
“On the one hand, there is the BJP’s empire of fear, greed, and lies. The pursuit of power through money power and agencies is a politics that destroys democracy. On the other hand, Congress has the resolve to work tirelessly for the people with truth, courage, and patience,” she said.
“I have full confidence that the public will support us, and the truth will prevail,” the Congress general secretary asserted.
In Himachal Pradesh, by-polls to six assembly seats will be held simultaneously with Lok Sabha elections on June 1. The assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh were necessitated after the disqualification of Congress MLAs.
Congress sources had earlier said that Priyanka Gandhi played a “pivotal” role in protecting people’s mandate in Himachal, remaining in constant touch with the Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge, Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, and senior leaders “to foil the BJP’s ‘Operation Lotus’” in February.
Priyanka was also the face of the Congress’ campaign in Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections in 2022. Earlier, she has also played the role of a “trouble-shooter” for the Congress.
Priyanka’s statement came a day after she reviewed the national polls strategy along with AICC general secretary in-charge of the hill state Rajeev Shukla, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, state unit president Pratibha Singh, Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri, and other senior leaders on Saturday.
Concerned over factionalism in the party’s Himachal Pradesh unit, Priyanka had urged the state leaders to be united, avoid public spats against each other, and fight the BJP together to win all the four Lok Sabha seats.
During the meeting, discussions were held regarding the strategy for Lok Sabha elections. “Priyanka Gandhi wants the state team to be together in taking on the BJP. We all are going to work together, and our target is to win all four parliamentary seats in the State. Everyone should contribute to the party campaign, which will focus on the failures of the Modi government over the past 10 years,” said state Congress chief Pratibha Singh.
“To spread the message of the Congress manifesto, we will try to reach all the households over the coming weeks. The people had believed in the party’s social welfare guarantees in the assembly polls and voted us to power. They will also support us in the ensuing national polls,” she said.
Himachal has four Lok Sabha seats — Hamirpur, Mandi, Shimla, and Kangra. The BJP won all four seats in 2019. Later, former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh’s wife Pratibha Singh snatched Mandi from the BJP in a by-poll necessitated in 2021 following the death of incumbent MP Ram Swaroop Sharma. Though the party plans to field new faces in the three seats, the consensus is on repeating Pratibha Singh in Mandi to counter BJP nominee actress Kangana Ranaut.
Of late, Pratibha Singh’s son and state minister Vikramaditya Singh has been regularly targeting Kangana fueling speculation that he may be named as Congress candidate from Mandi, a party stronghold.
Party insiders said that the high command is in no hurry to name the candidates for the June 1 polling but admitted that ally AAP had been pestering them to finalize the nominees early to counter the BJP.
According to party insiders, besides the Lok Sabha polls, by-elections in six assembly seats were also discussed in the strategy meeting chaired by Priyanka Gandhi. Six Congress rebels who were expelled by the Assembly Speaker are now contesting the by-polls as BJP candidates.
Crisis had hit the Sukhu Government after the six rebel MLAs voted against party’s Rajya Sabha nominee Abhishek Manu Singhvi and helped the BJP nominee Harsha Mahajan win in a tie.
Factionalism in the state unit surfaced around the same time when PWD Minister Vikramaditya Singh resigned to protest Sukhu’s style of functioning. Vikramaditya later withdrew his resignation at the instance of AICC observer DK Shiv Kumar.
Of late, the Chief Minister has been regularly attacking the six rebels for ditching the Congress. After the Chief Minister alleged the six rebels had taken Rs 15 crore each from the BJP, one of them Sudhir Sharma has filed a defamation suit against Sukhu. Party insiders said that the bribe details are emerging from an ongoing police probe, and the rebels will be further exposed.
