Pratibha Singh: Spearhead of Himachal Congress campaign for Assembly polls

In one of the biggest challenges of her political career so far, Pratibha has the dual task of spearheading the Congress’s election campaign while upholding Virbhadra’s political legacy.

Pratibha was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 2004 from the Mandi constituency, which was also represented by Virbhadra earlier. She defeated the BJP’s Jairam Thakur from the same seat in the 2013 bypoll, which was vacated after Virbhadra took charge as the CM. She again won from Mandi in a bypoll last year after the seat was vacated following the death of the sitting BJP MP Ram Swaroop Sharma.

The Congress has been hoping to clinch the HP polls, given the recent history of the state’s alternate governments. The party leaders and workers have been reaching out to the people and raising some key issues like farmers’ concerns, unemployment and inflation.

Pratibha believes that Virbhadra’s legacy and his influence over the people of the hill state would boost the grand old party’s prospects in the upcoming polls. The Congress has won some key bypolls in the state but has also seen the defection of some party leaders since last year. The HPCC’s working president Harsh Mahajan recently jumped ship and switched to the BJP.

In a recent interview to The Indian Express, Pratibha, when asked whether the Congress will declare its chief ministerial face in the HP polls, had said, “This is a decision that can only be taken once our government is formed. If a CM face is declared (before polls), there could be heartburn as there are many (party aspirants) in the fray. Our first focus is to regain the public mandate.”