Viplove flays Congress chief Pratibha for praising BJP

Tribune News Service

Lalit Mohan

Dharamsala, March 2

Infighting in the Congress is intensifying after six party MLAs rebelled against the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu government. Today, former Rajya Sabha member and HPCC president Viplove Thakur flayed Congress president Pratibha Singh for praising the BJP.

Viplove, a senior Congress leader who is considered close to the Chief Minister, alleged that Pratibha had not worked for the party at the ground level. “Pratibha has not visited any district in the state other than Shimla and Mandi as HPCC president since the Congress formed government,” she said.

She alleged that it was unfortunate that the HPCC president was saying that the working of the BJP was better than that of the Congress. “The fact is that as HPCC president, it is her duty to strengthen the party at the grass-roots level. She should tell people what programmes she has given to the party as its president in the past over one year. She has not strengthened the party at the ground level, not made any new appointments in the Congress though she was authorised to do so. A person holding the important post of HPCC president should not criticise the functioning of the party and praise the opposition party,” she added.

Meanwhile, party cadres are deeply divided in the Dharamsala constituency represented by rebel Congress MLA Sudhir Sharma, who was expelled from the Assembly by the Speaker under the anti-defection law. However, Sharma still has a strong base in Dharamsala. When his political rivals in the party in Dharamsala tried to burn his effigy, his supporters countered them and even clashed with them. Current Dharamsala Mayor Neenu Sharma and former Mayor Davinder Jaggu have welcomed the Speaker’s decision to expel Sharma from the Assembly.

Sharma is quite popular among Dharamsala residents, who are saying that injustice has been meted out to him. He had done a commendable job as the Minister for Town and Country Planning in the Virbhadra Singh government from 2012 to 2017. He was credited with bringing the Smart City Dharamsala project and other development projects to the constituency.

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