In Himachal Pradesh, BJP has a question: Where is Rahul Gandhi?

Congress leaders rejected BJP allegations and insisted that the party has not abandoned the state

In another 48 hours, the campaigning for the Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections will be over but it is one leader’s absence that has not gone unnoticed -- Rahul Gandhi's.

This would be the first Assembly election in which top Congress leader Rahul, who is into his 62nd day of the ambitious Bharat Jodo Yatra, will not be campaigning for the party in years even as the BJP has alleged that he is keeping away from the state fearing another defeat and does not want to take responsibility.

Despite party workers’ demands, Rahul has decided to continue with the Kanyakumari to Kashmir ‘padayatra without campaigning for the party in the hill state where the ruling BJP is said to be facing anti-incumbency. Party workers are upset that Rahul has not campaigned even for a day.

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Senior BJP leader Ravishankar Prasad accused Rahul of staying away from the campaigning fearing a defeat and did not want to take responsibility.

"Where is Rahul Gandhi, where is he missing? He is on a yatra, but why such indifference with Himachal. Congress' entire leadership, by that I mean effective leadership, why they have such indifference towards Himachal,” Prasad told reporters in Shimla on Tuesday.

However, Congress managers reject BJP allegations and insist that the party has not abandoned the state. They point to the active involvement of Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who is also Rahul’s sister.

“Elections come and go. Programmes like Bharat Jodo Yatra are once in a lifetime. You don’t suddenly go and do paint jobs when you are busy laying the foundations. Rahul campaigning in Himachal at this point will be nothing more than a finishing coat of paint,” a Congress manager told DH.

The leaders also point out that senior leaders like Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and former Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot are actively campaigning for the party and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge will join the campaign in the last two days.

They project that it is a “collective leadership” that is handling Himachal and do not want to bring the focus just on Rahul. “Is Rahul the only person to fight elections? He is giving an ideological direction to the party and connecting them back to the people. Now you see, state-wise yatras being taken out in at least another 4-5 states,” the Congress manager said.

For Rahul, sources said, the task he has set for himself is to rejuvenate the party organisation through a well-crafted political yatra that pits Congress directly against the “communal” RSS-BJP and the economic policies that has led to “joblessness, shutting of medium and small businesses and price rise”.