The long blood line of Himachal rebellion: A feud between CM Sukhu and the late Virbhadra Singh going back years

Political scientist Dr Harish Thakur calls their relationship an “enforced enmity”. “Virbhadra never appointed Sukhu to any post, not even of a chairman,” he points out.

Congress old-timers say Virbhadra’s distrust in Sukhu originated from the latter’s proximity to his arch-rival Pandit Sukh Ram. Another political observer says their differences also stemmed from their different ways of life.

While Virbhadra was a royal family scion seen to be “born with a golden spoon”, Sukhu was the son of a Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC) bus driver and did ordinary jobs like selling milk at a booth in Chotta Shimla during his youth.

Their trajectories were also contrasting. Virbhadra made his mark in national politics and was elected as an MP at the age of 28. On the other hand, Sukhu worked his way up the ranks, beginning his political career with the party’s student wing – the National Students Union of India (NSUI) – and rising up to helm the state youth Congress in 1998.

The duo, 31 years apart in age, had different approaches within the party too. While Virbhadra often stood up to the high command, given his own stature, Sukhu ensured good relations with central leaders like Rajiv Shukla, Anand Sharma and Rahul Gandhi.

In 2013, Virbhadra made his disapproval of Sukhu being appointed state Congress chief loud and clear. The former CM skipped many meetings called by then Congress in-charge Rajni Patil, and questioned Sukhu’s appointment even after he had lost the 2012 Assembly polls from Nadaun. Eventually, Virbhadra had his way and Sukhu was replaced by Kuldeep Singh Rathore.

By 2022, when the Congress wrested Himachal from the BJP and came to power in the hill state, things were vastly different. Virbhadra had been dead nearly a year.

This time, the opposition to Sukhu as CM was led by Vikramaditya and his mother Pratibha Singh, the Himachal Congress chief, who wanted to be CM and who insisted that the Congress had won riding on the late CM’s legacy.

Party insiders say Sukhu prevailed after he managed to “prove his numbers”. In Sukhu, the Congress also had a chance to make a point by appointing a “common man” to the top post, a break from its history of royals (the Virbhadra family).

Now, almost three years after Virbhadra’s death, the fissures in the Himachal Congress still remain, with Vikramaditya often making demurring noises. Last month, Pratibha warned that “all was not well” and many MLAs were feeling “left out”. Sukhu specifically was accused of systematically sidelining Virbhadra loyalists. Two rebel MLAs – Rajinder Rana and Sudhir Sharma – also voiced their concerns against the CM.

What happened in the Rajya Sabha polls then was long in the making. However, for the time being, the danger to the Sukhu government may have been averted.