'Legacy' revolt keeps Himachal politics boiling

Himachal CM will have to employ all the tricks in his playbook to defuse the revolt mounted by his nemesis late Virbhadra Singh’s family.

New Delhi: For those lacking a pedigree to boast of, a career in politics could be a game of trapeze without a net, and an accidental fall might cost dearly.    

Himachal Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu is one such politician, who, despite not having a legacy, managed to climb the power ladder through his hard work and astuteness. Yet, he is glaring at the biggest crisis of his career, with his government's fate hanging by a thread.     

The 41-year-long political life was never a bed of roses for Sukhu, who is the only leader from Rahul's team to have made it to the top in a state. For the 59-year-old with a post graduation and law degree, the ups and downs in his career were mostly dictated by his relations with former chief minister late Virbhadra Singh.

The son of a bus driver who ran a milk booth to sustain his family, Sukhu was not a man who liked to play second fiddle to Virbhadra Singh, ‘Raja Sahib’ to the Himachalis, for prominence in the Congress.

Even after Virbhadra’s demise, it wasn’t easy for Sukhu to catapult himself to the top, as he had to fight every inch against the competing interests within the party to assert his position. 

This time, he is forced to use all his political skills to save the CM chair, as the government’s survival is depending on a clutch of MLAs shepherded by his late bete noir’s wife Pratibha Singh and son Vikramaditya Singh, who have raised question marks on his continuation.

Virbhadra's family had invoked the late leader’s legacy in late 2022 to claim the chief minister’s post but the party’s central leadership chose Sukhu over a political dynasty in the hill state. And this legacy has once again been invoked as Sukhu and the Virbhadra's family engage in a tug-of-war for power.

Sukhu’s style of functioning — supporters claim he is dismantling the earlier practice of buying loyalty by providing sops to individuals — is at the centre of friction heating up the political climate in the Himalayan state. It was only that his detractors had been biding their time. Then came the Rajya Sabha elections where the party chose to field the 'outsider' Abhishek Singhvi.

Congress had 40 MLAs and the support of three independents in a House of 68 and was to romp home easily but with the BJP fielding former Congressman Harsh Mahajan, the stage was set. Six disgruntled Congress MLAs and three independents voted for Majahan and helped him trounce Singhvi.

The ruling party could manage just 34 votes, one less than the majority mark, raising question marks about the government's stability. The nine MLAs who cross-voted were herded by the saffron camp to Haryana’s Panchkula but the Congress immediately swung into action by disqualifying six of them from the Assembly. However, the crisis deepened with Vikramaditya quitting the cabinet, though he took back the resignation after the intervention of party observers who bought a temporary truce.

The clashes between Sukhu and late Virbhadra were no secret. Even though Sukhu became a leader of stature in the hill-state, he could not flourish during Virbhadra’s era. From Hamirpur, he shifted his base to Shimla to first become a councillor. Then he managed to fight the Assembly in 2003.

When the Congress leadership looked for a leader other than Virbhadra, they ended up at Sukhu’s doorsteps. When they chose him as the Himachal Congress chief in 2013, Virbhadra opposed it tooth and nail. One reason could be Sukhu’s perceived closeness to his rival Sukh Ram.

Just before the 2017 Assembly elections, Virbhadra managed to replace Sukhu as the campaign committee chief. Their animosity could be gauged from the fact that the change came just three days after then party vice president Rahul Gandhi made the announcement of Sukhu’s appointment. 

When the party lost the polls, Virbhadra publicly blamed Sukhu saying he did not have organisational skills and was appointing non-entities to crucial posts. Virbhadra also felt Congress’ popularity nose-dived under Sukhu and his continuation was suicidal. Sukhu was finally replaced in 2019.

Having already mastered the skills of a politician, Sukhu refused to cede ground. Things changed after Virbhadra’s death. Pratibha became Himachal Congress chief while Sukhu was once again made the campaign committee chief. When the Congress won, Sukhu staked claim with a large number of MLAs backing him.

Fifteen months into his first term as chief minister, the rebellion against him has come out in the open. The party’s central leadership has known for some time that all is not well in its Himachal unit. Now, Pratibha and Vikramaditya have started talking again about the “insult” meted out to Virbhadra’s legacy.

They accuse Sukhu of not sanctioning land for erecting Virbahdra’s statue in Shimla and when one was erected 100 km away in Sainj, Sukhu did not drive down to attend the unveiling ceremony. 

As early as May 2023, Pratibha had said that "some people were trying" to demolish the six-term chief minister’s legacy. Two months later, she wrote to party chief Mallikarjun Kharge over not being consulted on cabinet expansion and appointments to boards and corporations. Sukhu also divested Vikramaditya of the Sports Ministry much to his disappointment though he was given crucial Urban Development ministry. 

It is not that the troubles in Himachal were not known to the party’s central leadership. The decision to field Sonia Gandhi from Rajasthan where it lost power only months ago for Rajya Sabha elections than party-ruled Himachal itself revealed what the party thought about the affairs in Himachal.

For now, the central observers have devised a mechanism of a coordination committee to handle rivalry. While the Virbhadra family and their supporters are sure to not leave any stone unturned to unseat him, Sukhu will have to employ all the tricks he learned so far to dodge the looming crisis.