NEW DELHI: Set to take over as Congress chief soon, Rahul Gandhi is increasingly valuing the party’s old war horses to win state elections.
After Amarinder Singh, 75, delivered Punjab to the party amid a series of electoral reverses since the 2014 national elections defeat, the bet in poll-bound Himachal Pradesh is on chief minister Virbhadra Singh, 83.
Interestingly, in both cases Rahul, 47 was initially reluctant to let the veterans manage the show but finally listened to his advisers when he bypassed the established norm and announced Amarinder and Virbhadra as the party’s chief ministerial faces.
However, in another poll-bound state Gujarat, the Congress lacks a popular face for the top executive job.
According to sources, not only will Virbhadra officially lead the Himachal campaign, the chief minister will have a significant role in deciding party tickets as well though Rahul’s close aide and former minister of state for defence Jitendra Singh heads the AICC panel that will screen the applicants. This would also mean that state unit chief Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, a Rahul appointee, will largely be a rubber stamp.
“Sukhu lacks support among the state party leaders and the MLAs,” a senior AICC functionary, who did not wish to be named, told The New Indian Express.
Party insiders said Rahul decided to back Virbhadra only after the veteran raised a banner of revolt and wrote to Sonia Gandhi last month that the Congress high command will have to choose either Sukhu or him if it wanted to retain the hill state.
According to old-timers, Virbhadra had issued a similar threat to the high command ahead of the 2012 assembly polls to name him the state unit chief and successfully delivered Himachal Pradesh to the Congress, defeating the BJP.
Retaining power, however, will not be easy for the veteran as the saffron party rules the centre and is running an aggressive campaign to take back Himachal from the Congress. Besides, Virbhadra is also facing a slew of corruption cases which may dent his popularity, said the sources.
“These are fabricated cases. We are confident of returning to power,” Congress HP lawmaker Asha Kumari told The New Indian Express.
“There are many CM aspirants in the BJP which stands nowhere in the state. We will win,” said Virbhadra adding that “Himachal will give a befitting reply to the BJP’s anti-poor policies at the centre.”