Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has dissolved the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC), along with its district and block units, in a significant restructuring move.
The decision, effective immediately, aims to revamp the party’s structure in the Congress-led hill state, which has not seen a major reorganisation since the party’s government was established there, PTI reported.
State Congress chief Pratibha Singh, however, remains unaffected by this change, confirmed Naresh Chauhan, media advisor to the Chief Minister. Singh, who took the helm in April 2022, recently became a member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party’s apex decision-making body. She is also the widow of former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.
In a statement from AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal, he said, “Congress president has approved the proposal to dissolve the entire state unit of the PCC, district presidents and Block Congress Committees of Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee, with immediate effect.”
The Himachal Pradesh Congress has faced internal divisions, most notably during February’s Rajya Sabha elections, where factionalism surfaced as some Congress MLAs cross-voted, contributing to Congress nominee Abhishek Singhvi’s defeat by BJP’s Harsh Mahajan. Mahajan, who joined the BJP, later became a working president of Himachal Pradesh BJP.
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While the party searches for a new state PCC chief, several key names have emerged, including ministers Anirudh Singh and Harshvardhan Chauhan.
The BJP, meanwhile, was quick to respond. Himachal BJP chief spokesperson Randhir Sharma claimed the dissolution of the PCC vindicated their assertion of deep factionalism within Congress, remarking that “the balloon of internal revolt has exploded and more troubles are in the offing for the party as Congress workers are expressing their annoyance publicly,”
(With PTI Inputs)