Shimla, March 24, 2026
Former Himachal Pradesh Congress President, Pratibha Singh, said that though she is not ambitious, she regrets not getting the opportunity to go to Rajya Sabha as she could have continued to raise Himachal’s voice in Parliament.
Speaking to IANS, Singh said, “I am not personally ambitious as the party has already given me many opportunities, including three Lok Sabha tickets from Mandi, all of which I won. This time, many people wanted me to go to the Rajya Sabha, especially the supporters of Virbhadra Singh (her late husband and former Chief Minister) across the state.”
Regretting missing out on the Rajya Sabha opportunity, she said, “I could have continued to raise Himachal’s voice in Parliament.”
However, she said that she respects the decision of the Congress high command. “Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha (LoP), Rahul Gandhi, wanted to give a chance to a young leader, and thus a young party worker was selected for the Rajya Sabha seat.”
She expressed confidence that the chosen candidate would fulfill people’s expectations.
Dismissing claims that the party sends wealthy people instead of true politicians to the Rajya Sabha, Singh said, “These are just media speculations.”
She emphasised that giving an opportunity to a young leader is a positive step. “I hope that the selected candidate will work inclusively, listen to everyone, visit all regions, understand people’s issues, and try to resolve them,” she added.
The former Himachal Congress President urged that party workers in various states should be given a position and responsibility in the party.
She said, “As far as the Congress is concerned, all our party workers in various states should be given a position and responsibility in the party so that they continue to work diligently to strengthen the party.”
Reacting to the functioning of the party in Himachal Pradesh, Pratibha Singh made it clear that responsibility should be given to “dedicated” workers.
She said, “As Congress President in the state I wanted that a body should be formed at the earliest. But during elections last time, a huge body was formed with 400-450 Congress workers in the state which was not practical. Responsibility should be given to those who work dedicatedly for the party. Here, there were many who didn’t want to work.”
Further, she said, “As a member of the Congress Working Committee, I spoke to party MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and LoP Rahul Gandhi regarding this and requested them to form the body again.”
“Previous state Congress Presidents, too, have made such a body, giving major roles to people they found eligible,” she added.
She expressed disappointment that the matter got delayed. “Had they decided on this then only, things would have been different. Then I spoke to the Chief Minister and he too agreed to dissolve the body. We jointly submitted a letter to dissolve this and form a new body,” she said.
She added that the new body formation also took time.
The Himachal Pradesh Congress leader told IANS, “For the district presidents also we gave those names who had good experience of working for the party. But that also took a lot of time.”
Singh agreed that appointments in the state Congress have been delayed. “Even now we don’t have the party’s block presidents. Now we have panchayat elections and in some time we will also have Assembly elections. When will we get to the field and start working? These are the difficulties in front of us,” she said.
Expressing her faith with Vinay Kumar, who succeeded her as the new Himachal Pradesh Congress President, she said, “Now the party has selected a new President and we are happy that a youngster has got the opportunity who has also been a three-time MLA.”
Singh asserted that there is no lobbying in the Congress. “There’s no lobbying, we should not believe in such things and rather work for the welfare of the party and people. All our party workers are dedicated.”9Agency)
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