Even after defeat in bypoll, Congress fails to unite in Himachal Pradesh

SHIMLA: Even after tasting defeat on Dharamshala assembly seat in the recently concluded Himachal Pradesh byelections, Congress party is failing to contain factionalism in Kangra district and this became evident once again on Sunday when during their party's demonstration in Dharamshala to protest against the program and policies of BJP governments at state and Centre level, the Congress workers started raising slogans in support of their respective leaders.
Even as the slogans were being raised during the speech of state president Kuldeep Singh Rathore, he was forced to announce in the middle of speech that sloganeering would be viewed as indiscipline.
In the assembly byelection Congress candidate Vijay Inder Karan lost his deposit and later he blamed former minister Sudhir Sharma for his defeat. Sudhir Sharma was earlier being asked to contest from Dharamshala but he had later refused. There were allegations that Sudhir Sharma did not work for the party during the election but on Sunday he along with his supporters attended the protest demonstration.
To corner the BJP governments at Centre and state, Congress leaders took out a protest march wearing garlands made of onion. Sudhir Sharma supporters and Vijay Inder Karan raised slogans against each other that flared up the temperature during the demonstration. Though Rathore tried to stop the workers from raising slogans but his constant appeals failed to diffuse the situation.
To protest against rising prices of essential commodities, Congress leaders wore onion garlands. Though the protest demonstration was to corner BJP led governments but the factionalism of Congress leaders turned it into a show of strength among its own local leaders.
Congress has tasted defeat on all four parliamentary seats during the parliamentary election and now once again it faced defeat in two seats of Pachhad and Dharamshala during the byelections. Many Congress leaders are blaming factionalism prevailing within the party for defeat. Some leaders said that if such trends continued then winning 2022 assembly elections would be a challenge for Congress.