"Declined To Contest Lok Sabha Elections As...": Himachal Congress Chief

In a jolt to the ruling Congress in Himachal Pradesh, state party chief and Mandi MP Pratibha Singh on Wednesday announced that she has decided not to contest the Lok Sabha elections as the ground situation was "not favourable" and workers were disheartened.

"I have withdrawn my name and conveyed to the (party) high command that I will not contest the elections and will fully support any candidate which the party central leaders consider suitable," Singh, the wife of former chief minister Virbhadra Singh and mother of Public Works Minister Vikramaditya Singh, told reporters said.

The shock announcement comes at a time when the Congress government in the state is struggling to keep its house in order after six party rebels, along with three Independents, voted in favour of BJP nominee Harsh Mahajan in the Rajya Sabha elections last month.

Public Works Minister Vikramaditya Singh had also announced his resignation from the cabinet a day after the Rajya Sabha elections claiming that there have been attempts to humiliate and undermine him, but the central party leadership swung into action and persuaded him to withdraw the resignation.

Announcing her decision not to contest the Lok Sabha elections, Pratibha Singh said, "I have toured the state extensively and found that no worker is active and in such a situation, it is difficult to achieve success.... You cannot win polls just by distributing MPLAD funds." If the Congress workers who had worked hard for the party's victory in the last assembly polls were given responsibilities and importance, they would have been active in the field and this situation would not have arisen, she said, repeating a charge she had made earlier against Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu.

"The workers are the backbone of the organisation and I had repeatedly told the government, even through the media, that giving due importance to party workers is necessary," Singh said, adding the party will only be in a position to fight the elections if workers are empowered and respected.

The Congress won the assembly polls in the state around 15 months ago.

The state Congress Chief had been vocal and pressing for rewarding the dedicated leaders of the organisation who worked hard for the victory of the party and had even said that that party leaders and MLAs were unhappy as their concerns were not being addressed.

On the day of the Rajya Sabha polls (February 27), she had made a specific reference to Rajinder Rana -- one of the six rebel MLAs -- saying that he was a tall leader who had defeated former chief minister P K Dhumal and was expecting a berth in the cabinet, but was ignored.

Referring to the assembly by-elections on six seats following the disqualification of Congress MLAs, Singh said that bypolls are very crucial for the survival of the government and if she remains confined to the Mandi parliament constituency, she will not be able to discharge her responsibility as the state unit president and campaign to ensure the victory of the party candidates.

The six Congress MLAs -- Rajinder Rana (Sujanpur), Inder Dutt Lakhanpal (Barsar), Chetanya Sharma (Gagret), and Devinder Kumar Bhutto (Kutlehar), Sudhir Sharma (Dharamshala) and Ravi Thakur (Lahaul and Spiti) -- were disqualified for defying a party whip to be present in the Assembly and vote in favour of the government during the cut motions and budget.

"We would have to work day and night to ensure the victory of Congress and are trying to sort out grievances of workers and encourage them to work in the interest of the party," she added.

"We have short-listed names of the candidates for the elections at a meeting in which the chief minister and party observers were present. It has been decided that a survey would be conducted and candidates on the top would be given tickets," she added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)