‘I never said I will not contest… Currently, there is no resentment within the party’: Himachal Congress chief Pratibha Singh

THAT Himachal Pradesh Congress chief Pratibha Singh is not happy with the state of affairs in the party has been evident since Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu was chosen as the Chief Minister after the Congress won the state Assembly elections last year. The discontent burst into the open during the recent Rajya Sabha elections, when six Congress MLAs cross-voted to help the BJP candidate win, and Pratibha refused to condemn them outright, while her son Vikramaditya, a minister in the Sukhu government, threatened to join the rebels.

Following that, Pratibha also expressed her disinterest in re-contesting from the Mandi Lok Sabha seat, from where she is a sitting MP, having won it in a bypoll, suggesting that the Congress was not strong enough. Now, she appears to have changed her mind. Excerpts from an interview:

 *The BJP has announced its candidates for all the four Lok Sabha seats in Himachal, as well as fielded Congress rebels from the six Assembly seats vacant after their disqualification. Why has the Congress not come out with names?

Both the Lok Sabha elections and the Assembly bypolls are due in the last phase, on June 1. There is still time. A meeting is scheduled to be held in Delhi this week, and the high command will announce the candidates… We will find eligible, competent names against the Congress rebels fielded by the BJP.

*You had declined to contest the parliamentary elections from Mandi, but recently you said you will go as per the decision of the high command. Have you changed your mind?

First of all, I would like to clarify that I never said I would not contest the elections. I had conveyed my wish to the high command that since the Congress also has to face bypolls in six Assembly seats, they should excuse me