With an eye on ex- servicemen votes in Kangra constituency, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh on Tuesday paid a surprise visit to the sulking Major Vijay Singh Mankotia to pacify him after his public display of indifference towards Congress.
Virbhadra Singh is on a three day tour of Kangra district to canvass for party candidate Chander Kumar. On Tuesday morning, before the start of his hectic campaign tour, Singh made a sudden visit to Mankotia’s residence at Tiara village in Shahpur of Kangra district and had a breakfast with him. The Chief Minister pacified the disgruntled leader who was for quite sometimes accusing Congress leadership, including Chief Minister Singh of ignoring him and has also stayed away from Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s rally.
Mankotia was also contemplating to contest the lok Sabha elections as an independent candidate. To check the opinion of his supporters he was holding several meetings in different Assembly segments. The meeting of Chief Minister and Mankotia also holds importance as earlier BJP veteran Shanta Kumar had a secret meeting with him which set the tongue wobbling that Mankotia could also join BJP or at least extend his support to Kumar who is BJP’s candidate from Kangra seat.
However, the fresh meeting with Chief Minister and Mankotia has come as a major relief to the Congress as Mankotia with his support base especially among ex-servicemen could have upset the ruling party’s calculations in Kangra, had he stuck to his plan to contest election or join BJP or even support the saffron party. “Chief Minister admitted that whatever happened in past few days was due to a communication gap, which eventually led to misunderstanding among us,” Mankotia said.
He, however refused to comment on whether he would campaign for Congress or not. He said that most of his supporters were from Congress background but they are very annoyed due to the indifferent attitude of the party and government towards their leader in past one year.