Why onus of triggering Operation Lotus in Himachal lies with Congress’ high command?

New Delhi: Cross-voting of Congress’ Himachal Pradesh legislators in Rajya Sabha polls and subsequent demand for the removal of incumbent Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu have nothing to do with the local versus outsider debate being peddled by a section of the media.

The clear and undeniable fact is that the Congress high command has completely messed up and the Rajya Sabha polls were only the final trigger for the ongoing rebellion.

The Congress’ top leadership was unable to ensure that senior state leaders were kept within the ranks and were treated with respect. This backfired big time as BJP’s winning candidate in the Rajya Sabha polls, Harsh Mahajan was in the Congress till 2022 and a four-time former MLA of the party.

The rebellion is now spiralling out of hand as Minister Vikramaditya Singh has resigned from his ministerial post and alleged that his family had been humiliated. “Congress won Himachal Assembly elections in the name of Virbhadra Singh, but this government did not show even this much respect to give a small piece of land for his statue on Mall Road,” he said.

It must be remembered that discontent within the grand old party was brewing ever since Delhi chose Sukhu as Chief Minister and gave him a free hand in running the state.

Sources pointed out that Sukhu packed the Cabinet with his loyalists and forgot the delicate balance required in the tiny hill state. It was also pointed out that the Congress high command chose the Chief Minister and Deputy CM from the same Parliamentary constituency.

Sukhu failed to assess disgruntlement within party ranks. Two MLAs have led the rebellion, Sudhir Sharma and Rajendra Rana. Both were not made ministers despite Rana defeating Bharatiya Janata Party strongman and former Chief Minister PK Dhumal. Rana comes from the home district of the CM and got two more MLAs from the same district to rebel, sources added.

In Himachal Pradesh’s history, this might be the first government to fall due to its own MLAs as Himachal Congress legislators are now adamant on the demand to change the Chief Minister. However, there isn’t any guarantee that the Congress government will be saved even after removing Sukhu.

The Congress is trapped in a peculiar situation in Himachal Pradesh, the only north Indian state with a government led by the grand old party. The deployment of senior leaders Bhupinder Hooda and DK Shivakumar to resolve the ongoing crisis may be a step that has been initiated too late by the Congress high command, sources added.

Earlier, Himachal Pradesh Congress unit chief Pratibha Singh had also expressed displeasure for not having a say in cabinet expansion and appointments to boards and corporations, saying that she was feeling “sidelined and hurt”.

The Himachal PCC chief was also a contender for the chief minister’s post after the Congress win in December 2022, but Sukhu took the coveted post with Mukesh Agnihotri as his deputy.

Though it will be very difficult for the BJP to break the Congress in Himachal, the saffron brigade is using all its might to implement Operation Lotus successfully in the hill state.

The BJP has been eyeing to improve its tally from three in 2019 to all four of the Lok Sabha constituencies in Himachal in 2024, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi giving an ambitious target of 370 seats in the lower house of Parliament as he seeks his third term in office.