Foe turns friends, bickering on in Congress for Kangra seat

DHARAMSHALA: Kangra is the political capital of Himachal Pradesh . This Parliamentary constituency is represented by former chief minister and BJP leader Shanta Kumar . With elections round the corner, ticket probable in Congress are trying to outsmart each other and have started relationship building techniques among factions of the party.

Congress is divided into factions of Virbhadra Singh and GS Bali in this region. The party leaders hoping to get tickets have started mustering support for themselves.

Former ministers GS Bali and Sudhir Sharma are the ticket probable from Kangra Parliamentary seat.

Sudhir is considered as close aide of Virbhadra Singh while Bali enjoys love and hate relationship with Singh.

In a strategic move , senior party leader GS Bali and former MP Chander Kumar had recently held a meeting with other prominent leaders of OBC (Other backward Caste). It was said that former congress legislature, Surinder Kaku, an OBC background also participated in this meeting, said sources.

The meeting of these two party stalwarts has triggered controversies among the party as both Kumar and Bali were political opponents of each other at one time.

Both, Kumar and Surinder Kaku were also said to be a firm supporters of Virbhadra Singh.

This meeting holds significance as Kangra parliamentary seat has majority of OBC vote bank.

Adding to this, the former chief Parliamentary secretary, Neeraj Bharti, son of former MP Chander Kumar is openly sharing social media posts against Sudhir Sharma.

Well placed sources said that at present Bali and Sudhir, both are in Delhi lobbying for a ticket.

Both the leaders have already started relationship building exercise with party leaders and workers of the two factions. But it is an uphill task for the Congress due to its divided factions to secure this seat.

Former minister Sudhir Sharma enjoys the support of former legislatures from the faction of Virbhadra Singh.

Beside these two factions of Bali and Singh, there is another faction in the party here of former state Congress chief Sukhwinder Sukhu.

Sukhu remained party chief for eight years and has many leaders appointed by him, working on ground level. He still remains the party president as the new president Kuldeep Rathore has not replaced them.

The factions in the Congress party came to the fore in a recent rally of Rahul Gandhi held this month at Chambi. The state party affairs in-charge Rajni Patil had to make announcements from stage to ban slogans of various factions in rally.

It was in 2004 that the Congress secured the Kangra seat fielding Chander Kumar. From last 10 years BJP is ruling here. The elections are due on May 19. BJP has already mobilized its workers.

Interestingly, Congress has not organized any meetings to end difference among its leaders.