Himachal Congress prez Pratibha Singh refuses to contest LS polls emulating Ashok Gehlot, Digvijaya Singh

Singh said she had toured the state extensively and 'found that no worker is active and in such a situation, it is difficult to achieve success.... You cannot win polls just by distributing MPLAD funds'.

New Delhi: Himachal Congress president and sitting MP Pratibha Singh on Wednesday joined a list of party leaders refusing to enter the Lok Sabha election fray announcing that the ground situation is "not favourable", indicating further worsening of factional war in the state unit that barely saved itself earlier this month.

Singh's shock statement came at a time when the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu government is still not out of the woods after six MLAs cross-voted that led to the victory of a BJP nominee in the Rajya Sabha elections.

"I have withdrawn my name and conveyed to the High Command that I will not contest the elections and will fully support any candidate which the party central leaders consider suitable," she said in Shimla.

She said she had toured the state extensively and "found that no worker is active and in such a situation, it is difficult to achieve success.... You cannot win polls just by distributing MPLAD funds."

While announcing her decision, Pratibha said, if the party workers who had worked hard for the party's victory in the last Assembly polls were given responsibilities and importance, they would have been active in the field and this situation would not have arisen.

Pratibha, who won the Lok Sabha bypolls from Mandi, joined a list of leaders like Ashok Gehlot, Digvijaya Singh, TS Singhdeo and Bharatsinh Solanki to inform the party leadership that they will not contest the elections. Kamal Nath had also refused to contest.

Party's Ahmedabad East candidate Rohan Gupta announced on 'X' that he was withdrawing from the contest as he had to attend to his father's health related problems. Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu also told the leadership that he was unavailable to contest as he has to devote time to attend to health issues of a family member.

However, news emerged on Tuesday that he would be returning to the commentary box as the IPL season starts. Sidhu is at loggerheads with the Punjab Congress unit.

Congress leadership was of the view that its senior leaders should contest the election, especially in north Indian states where it managed to win just around a dozen seats five years ago. The thinking behind the move is that they have higher winnability owing to their stature in states and it could add to the Congress tally if these leaders can pull off seats other than what the party could win in vulnerable seats.

So far, only former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and former minister Tamrdhwaj Sahu have entered the fray. Congress is also fielding General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal from Kerala's Alappuzha, the lone seat Congress lost in 2019 elections.