While Rahul Gandhi is on his mission to ‘unite’ India with the Congress party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, the party’s Himachal Pradesh unit has reportedly expelled 30 district Shimla office-bearers from the primary membership for six years over anti-party activities.
Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee president Pratibha Singh took the decision after receiving a resolution from the Block Congress Committee, Chopal, that called for the expulsion of 30 Congress functionaries allegedly involved in anti-party activities in a poll-bound state.
In the Chopal Assembly constituency, the Congress has nominated Rajneesh Kimta in opposition to the BJP’s sitting MLA Balbir Verma. The Congress had declined to give a ticket to its 2017 candidate Subhash Manglate, who is now contesting the elections as an Independent candidate.
The dismissal from the party gains significance, given that it came on the eve of the counting of votes for the Himachal Pradesh assembly elections, which the exit polls suggest could throw a hung assembly, with Congress and BJP both racking up a near-identical number of seats in Vidhan Sabha.
The Aaj Tak-Axis My India survey gave Congress a slight advantage with 30-40 seats while BJP came a close second with 24-34 seats.
However, the ABP-Cvoter predicted that BJP will trounce Congress in a close fight. Its exit poll said BJP will bag 33-41 seats while granting Congress 24-31 seats.
While all exit polls predicted a close fight between Congress and BJP, the polls of all exit polls handed the advantage to the saffron party and projected BJP’s return to power in Himachal Pradesh.