Newsmaker | Armed with Virbhadra legacy, new Himachal Congress leader Pratibha vows to clinch polls
When she hosted a lunch for leaders of quite a lot of warring factions of the Himachal Pradesh Congress in Shimla a couple of months in the past, Pratibha Singh would possibly now not have recognized that the All India Congress Committee (AICC) management will quickly give her the mandate to stay the party united and lead it within the state.
Congress leader Sonia Gandhi has appointed Pratibha, the 65-year-old three-time party MP, because the HP Congress Committee (HPCC) president within the run-up to the Meeting elections slated for November this 12 months.
The spouse of HP Congress stalwart and six-time leader minister Virbhadra Singh, who kicked the bucket in July closing 12 months, Pratibha these days represents the Mandi parliamentary constituency, which she received in a bypoll closing 12 months. She has now been entrusted with the activity to lend a hand the party win the impending polls.
“I’ll paintings with willpower and ensure the party involves energy,” Pratibha instructed The Indian information quickly after her appointment as the brand new HPCC leader on Tuesday. “They’ve put this accountability on my shoulders.”
Plainly, what is going in Pratibha’s favour is Virbhadra’s legacy. Her appointment because the state Congress president is a sign that the party would financial institution on Virbhadra’s legacy within the polls.
“There is not any chief of his (Virbhadra’s) stature within the state. There is not any tall chief like him. Even we will’t step into his sneakers,” Pratibha had instructed The Indian information in an interview previous this month.
She admitted she received the Mandi bypoll because of a “sympathy vote” following Virbhadra’s loss of life. “Even the devoted BJP staff had instructed me that they might vote for Raja sahib (Virbhadra) as a result of he did such a lot for the state. Yeh shradhanjali ka vote tha (It was once a vote of tribute),” she mentioned.
A former HPCC vice-president, Pratibha was once previous elected to the Lok Sabha from Mandi in 2004 and 2013. A reluctant flesh presser, she claims given a call, she wouldn’t have entered the political area. “Cases had been such that I got here into politics, perhaps partially as a result of I used to be married right into a political circle of relatives.”
Requested about her long term demanding situations like the impending Meeting elections, Pratibha mentioned, “The battle goes to be between the main Opposition Congress and the ruling BJP”, including that “AAP doesn’t exist within the state”. HP politics has all the time been a two-party affair involving the Congress and the BJP, throwing up change governments headed through both of them.
Pratibha’s son Vikramaditya Singh is these days a Congress MLA from Shimla rural constituency. She needs him to be on his personal. On “why she would now not play Sonia Gandhi to her son”, she mentioned: “I don’t consider in projecting him (Vikramaditya) unnecessarily. There are lots of senior and skilled leaders in our state unit. Vikramaditya is a first-timer. He wishes to be told and turn out himself. Other people have approved him as a result of Virbhadraji. Now he has to turn out his capacity. Ghisai zaroori hai, tabhi gem banega (It is important that he works onerous, most effective then will he shine like a gem).”
