Factionalism in Himachal Pradesh Congress came to the fore again, when the newly appointed AICC general secretary in-charge of the state, Shushil Kumar Shinde was welcomed here with slogans against state Congress president Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu on his first official visit to the hill state after assuming charge.
Shinde, accompanied by the newly appointed co-incharge Ranjeet Ranjan, got a warm welcome from Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his cabinet colleagues at Peterhoff on Wednesday. While the event portrayed enthusiasm of Congress workers for Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, it turned sour for the party, when supporters started raising slogans against Sukhu. The sloganeering against Sukhu marked a challenge for the newly appointed representatives of Congress high command to bring truce amongst the warring factions at the earliest.
Sukhu, who himself was present at Peterhoff to welcome Shinde and Ranjan, was found absent from the spot after the Congress supporters raised slogans against him.
Shinde and Ranjan, who both had recently taken charge of Himachal Pradesh Congress after the earlier State Congress Incharge Ambika Soni resigned, was first welcomed at Chandigarh Airport by Transport Minister G S Bali and Public Relation Minister Mukesh Agnihotri, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Dhani Ram Shandil and MlA Ram Kumar Chaudhary
Shinde travelled to Shimla from Chandigarh by road. On the way, he had lunch at Barog with the party leaders.
Shinde is scheduled to have detailed deliberations with state Congress leaders on Thursday.
HPCC General Secretary Naresh Chauhan said that Shinde would first have a meeting of Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee on Thursday morning. All the office bearers of HPCC and District Presidents would participate in the meeting.
In the evening, Shinde will take a meeting of Congress legislative Party. Both the meetings are expected to be quite stormy as the clash between the senior leadership of State Congress is expected to take a toll on the party’s prospects in the assembly polls just around four months away.
The conflict in the Himachal Pradesh Congress had gained strength last week, when six MlAs from the party wrote a letter to Congress high command, seeking removal of Virbhadra Singh from the post of Chief Minister. Virbhadra Singh and HPCC president Sukhu, both had visited New Delhi, after the crises emerged within the party.
The slogan raising against the HPCC president on the arrival of Shinde, suggests that conflict in the state Congress had still been simmering and it would be the first challenge for Shinde to settle down the dust, which had been fading the prospects of the party.