Does Congress have a CM face in Himachal or will the Nehru-Gandhi family decide again?

Shimla: Who is going to be the Chief Minister if the Congress is elected to power in the Himachal Pradesh polls? That’s the most frequent question being asked at the election rallies of the party.

With just a few days left before voting day, the Congress has chosen not to name its Chief Ministerial face to avoid a wider rift among the aspirants, who also include PCC president Pratibha Singh, former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh’s wife.

She was made Congress party Chief just ahead of the state assembly polls with the condition that she will not contest. Yet, representing the legacy of her husband, a towering leader of the party, Pratibha Singh is very much in the running for the race.

“We have not declared a Chief Ministerial candidate. The elections are being fought under a collective leadership. The first priority is to defeat the BJP and get a two-thirds majority in the assembly. The party will take a call on naming the new CM once elections get over” says Rajiv Shukla, AICC incharge for Himachal Pradesh.

Apart from Pratibha Singh, two prominent names being mentioned as potential Chief Minister candidates for the top post are Congress campaign Committee head Sukhwinder Sukhu, a three-time MLA from Nadaun in Hamirpur district, and the leader of opposition Mukesh Agnihotri.

Agnihotri, a four-time MLA from Haroli in Una, is a journalist-turned-politician, who served as a minister in Virbhadra Singh’s Cabinet. He was a protégé of Singh but now appears to be ready to compete with his mentor’s family.

Another strong contender for the Chief Minister’s post is Sukhwinder Sukhu, a Rajput leader, considered close to Priyanka Gandhi who is the Congress Party’s star campaigner in the state.

“Yes, I am very much in the race. Everyone has a right to aspire for the Chief Minister’s post. I have worked in the party as NSUI president, Youth Congress president and PCC president for seven years” he told India Narrative.

The Congress election managers in the state are tight-lipped over the leadership issue. The matter is certainly out of the purview of most central leaders.

“They have been strictly told not to go beyond the brief. The talk about the Chief Minister will only be relevant if the Congress gets a two-thirds majority in the House,” a senior PCC leader said.

To counter Modi factor the Congress has made Priyanka Gandhi its star campaigner. She too will have her influence in deciding the leader though Sukhu claims the elected MLAs will certainly have a role.

” Yet the final word will be from the top” a sitting Congress MLA in the poll fray admits.

This is the first time when Priyanka Gandhi is campaigning in Himachal Pradesh assembly polls. Earlier, it primarily used to be Rahul Gandhi or earlier Sonia Gandhi. This time, Rahul Gandhi is on ‘Bharat Jodo’ Yatra and Sonia Gandhi has no plans to campaign.

In 2017, when Virbhadra Singh led the party to the poll as sixth time Chief Minister, Rahul Gandhi campaigned for the party.

He had declared Virbhadra Singh as the Chief Ministerial face for 2017 elections — his seventh term,  but the party lost the polls and BJP returned to power .

The Congress is nursing the hope that Himachal Pradesh will not change from its trend of a change in government every five years.

However, the BJP state president Suresh Kashyap maintains that the BJP will return to power on the strength of the double engine government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has emerged as a game-changer in the poll campaign.

” Our slogan is Riwaaz Badal Raha Hai” — the trend of alternating governments is changing. The Congress is getting wiped out everywhere in the states as happened in UP, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa due to policies and leadership of Modi ji” Kashyap said.

The electioneering is at its peak after Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed two back-to-back poll rallies at Sundarnagar in Mandi, the home district of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, and Solan the gateway to Shimla, the state capital.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has also campaigned for two days .