Cong takes back rebels, but with rider

Tribune News Service

Shimla, March 20

The Congress has decided to take back all party leaders and workers who had faced disciplinary action and were expelled from the party during the last Assembly elections, expect those who had fought elections against party candidates.

Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) president Kuldeep Rathore said that all those who were seeking re-entry into the party have been taken back but they will not be given any party post for the next two years. He said a decision has been taken in principle to take all such people back who had made a formal request to the party in this regard.

“However, return of those party workers who had contested the Assembly elections against the official party’s candidate is still pending and will be taken after weighing the pros and cons,” he stated. He added that the decision to take them back had been taken with full thought and consideration as it was in the interest of the party.

There are several leaders like Harish Janartha who had fought the 2017 Assembly elections as an independent from Shimla and Hardeep Bawa who had fought the election against the Congress nominee from Baddi, who are desperate to regain entry into the party. Many of them are diehard Virbhadra loyalists and the earlier party president Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu too had opposed their re-entry to the party, which was the bone of contention between the two leaders.

However, the chances of the party adopting a lenient view on all such people who had jumped into the fray against Congress candidates seem bleak. There are more than 40 leaders who have been taken back by Rathore with an eye on the Lok Sabha elections.

Those seeking re-entry

Leaders like Harish Janartha who had fought the 2017 Assembly elections as an independent from Shimla and Hardeep Bawa who had fought the election against the Congress nominee from Baddi are desperate to regain entry into the party. Many of them are diehard Virbhadra loyalists and the earlier party president Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu had opposed their re-entry to the party, which was the bone of contention between the two leaders.