Week before Himachal fiasco, Congress knew what was coming but was clueless about its scale

Although the BJP’s decision to field Harsh Mahajan, a former Congress leader, was a clear signal that it was trying to tap into the discontent in the Congress, sources said the central leadership got a whiff of the seriousness of what was brewing in the Himachal Congress at least a week before February 27, the day voting for the Rajya Sabha election took place.

The leadership, sources said, zeroed in on the MLAs who were restive and then used multiple channels to reach out to all of them, including Sudhir Sharma and Rajinder Rana, the two who led the dissidents.

Accordingly, veteran leader Digvijaya Singh was roped in to speak to Rana, a Thakur who was once a loyalist of former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal. Similarly, AICC general secretary Randeep Surjewala was asked to speak to Sharma with whom he shared a good personal equation. Sources said Singhvi too had roped in a couple of leaders – and incidentally some “outsiders” – to speak to the others – Chaitanya Sharma, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Davinder Kumar Bhutto and Ravi Thakur.

That all was not well in the Himachal Congress was known for some time.

Himachal Pradesh Congress president Pratibha Singh and Sukhu were not on talking terms. Both Sharma and Rana were upset with Sukhu for not inducting them in the state Cabinet. Rana had emerged as a giant killer in 2017 when he defeated Dhumal, the BJP’s Chief Minister face and his former mentor. Sharma was a minister in the Virbhadra Singh government from 2012-2017. But the high command’s decision to field Singhvi, an outsider, became the convenient excuse and reason for the rebellion.

Sources said the Congress leadership had relayed the information to Sukhu, Pratibha Singh as well as AICC In charge Rajeev Shukla, who shared personal rapport with almost all the six MLAs. It is known that Sukhu and Shukla share no love lost for each other. High command leaders blame both Sukhu and Shukla for not being alert enough and showing the alacrity needed to avert the crisis.

“Sukhu perhaps took it too lightly. He kept on telling the high command that everything was in order, a senior leader said. “Shukla too cannot escape the blame. He knew all of them very well…,” he said.

Talking to The Indian Express Friday, Sukhu said the crisis is over and the Government will complete its term. Asked whether he had an inkling about possible cross-voting and whether the high command had alerted him, he said: “Mujhe iska thoda bahut andesha tha…high command ne bi avgat karvaya tha… that 2-3 MLAs who wanted to become ministers were upset. I knew they were upset…but I am unable to fathom the reason for others (defecting)… they were all happy… in some way temptation is also a factor.”

Sources said Singhvi, too, had separate meetings with all the six Congress MLAs the weekend before the voting day. It is said that all the six, during their interaction with Singhvi and other senior leaders who had reached out to them earlier, had sworn allegiance to the party even while clearly telling them that they were unhappy with Sukhu.

“We had an inkling that a couple of them could cross-vote… but we still had a huge margin… but we did not know six MLAs and three Independents would cross-vote… The scale certainly surprised us. Sonia Gandhi was not fielded in Himachal Pradesh because cross-voting by even one MLA would have created bad optics. It is after all Soniaji… In Singhvi’s case, Sonia was very particular that he is fielded from a safe state… the party chose Himachal and not Karnataka because there was only one seat and the numbers were comfortable,” one leader said.