SHIMLA, Sept 22: As Himachal PCC President Sat Mahajan has tried to downplay the trouble brewing in the party after the reported leakage of a letter, senior Congress leaders are analysing the reasons behind the outburst of G. S. Bali, PCC secretary and sitting MLA, against Mahajan.Bali claims that he had offered to resign from the post since the PCC president had shown mistrust towards him. Mahajan, when contacted, says he had no knowledge about such an offer.The Congress MLA, who was elected to the assembly from the OBC-dominated area of Nagrota-Bhagwan for the first time, is a staunch supporter of Virbhadra Singh. He is the only person from the Virbhadra camp to oppose Sat Mahajan and a majority of Virbhadra Singh's supporters have accepted Mahajan as their leader. They have not opposed any of his moves yet. So some of them are also surprised at Bali's stand against the PCC president. "What the actual grievance is, perhaps nobody really knows'' says a Mahajan loyalist in the PCC.Before the nomination of Mahajan who had been the PCC president twice earlier, Bali, alongwith a powerful lobby of Congress leaders had been pleading for appointment of a young party leader as successor to late Sant Ram. The letter, which has been a subject of controversy over its leakage, was written to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, suggesting the appointment of a younger PCC president.But Mahajan had already been appointed as the new state party chief before the letter could reach Sonia Gandhi. In the new PCC, Bali was also accommodated as PCC secretary. His confidants say he had been aspiring for the post of general secretary. The state party secretary, who is known for his manipulative skills and connections in Delhi, had favoured the name of former minister Chander Kumar for PCC presidentship who, instead became the treasurer of the party, thus causing another jolt to Bali.The Congress sources said the meeting of the PCC executive convened here for September 24, which AICC General Secretary R. K. Dhawan is expected to attend, is likely to discuss Bali's action of taking the issue of the letter to the press. "I do not want to comment anything at this stage and will leave the entire issue to PCC executive to ignore or take notice of it,'' said the PCC president.Initially some of the PCC leaders, including some Virbhadra Singh detractors suspected that Bali was acting at the instance of Virbhadra Singh to embarrass Mahajan, but inquiries reveal that Bali seems to have his own game. Now there are doubts that he had been doing this to please Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal. Bali, however, denies both possibilities.
