SHIMLA: In a bid to contain growing factionalism within the Sirmaur unit of Congress party, PCC president Pratibha Singh on Tuesday dissolved the Sirmaur district Congress committee. Senior party leader and former Speaker Gangu Ram Musafir has been directed to look after the organisational affairs in the district till further orders. A faction of the Congress, headed by Shillai MLA Harvardhan Chauhan, was demanding the removal of district president Ajay Bahadur, accusing him of being ineffective.
Based on the report submitted by state working president Harsh Mahajan, who is also the in-charge of Shimla parliamentary constituency, Pratibha Singh has dissolved the Sirmaur district Congress committee with immediate effect. Around 200 Congress leaders and workers of Sirmaur district had gathered at Nahan on June 10 to sign a resolution against the district party president Ajay Bahadur, stating that in his 30 months tenure, Bahadur has failed to convene even a single meeting of the district Congress committee. Through the resolution, these leaders had demanded to appoint someone else as district party president. Growing rift among party leaders in Sirmaur district, having five assembly seats, has left the party worried as infighting can weaken chances of winning seats in the assembly election.
The vertical split in Sirmaur Congress became public on June 12 when during the visit of Pratibha Singh for the Bharat Jodo Sadbhavna Sammelan, Harshvardhan Chauhan did not share the stage with Ajay Bahadur and instead preferred to sit among the public on the ground. Pratibha Singh had to request Chauhan with folded hands to sit on the stage.
