Infighting in Himachal Pradesh Congress has come to the fore after the party's defeat on the two seats of Dharamshala and Pachhad where by-election was held on Thursday.
Congress candidate in Dharmshala Vijay Inder Karan, who lost his security deposit in the bypoll, blamed former minister and AICC secretary Sudhir Sharma for 'conniving' with the ruling BJP for his defeat and sought his "immediate expulsion" from the party.
Talking to PTI, Karan said he had already sent his report to Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) president and All India Congress Committee (AICC) leadership for taking action against Sharma.
"Congress wanted to field Sudhir Sharma from Dharamshala in the bypoll but he refused to contest on the ground of his 'ill health' but when the party fielded me, he did not make even an appeal to vote for the Congress candidate from Dharamshala," he said.
"On the other hand, former chief minister Virbhadra Singh, who could not campaign because of his ill-health, issued an appeal on social media to vote and support me," he added.
Sharma could not be contacted for his version.
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However, HPCC president Kuldeep Singh Rathore said it was the prerogative of the AICC to take any action against Sharma.
"He (Sharma) is an AICC secretary, any action will be taken in this regard by AICC. AICC observer for Dharamshala bypoll has also submitted his report to the party high-command," he said.
Rathore said, state Congress will set up a committee to look into the entire matter and to analyse the causes which led to the party's "worst ever performance" in Dharamshala.
"The refusal of the traditional leader to contest from Dharamshala is one of the main reasons for the party's worst ever performance there," he said.
In 2017, Sharma had contested from Dharamshala but lost to BJP's Kishan Kapoor by a margin of 2,997 votes.
The by-election to Dharamshala Assembly seat was necessitated after sitting BJP MLA Kishan Kapoor was elected to the Lok Sabha in May.
Interestingly, Himachal BJP president Satpal Satti had claimed during election campaigning that Sharma had sought a ticket from the saffron party to contest from Dharamshala but the party preferred its own worker.
Karan, who failed to get even the required one-sixth of total votes polled, also blamed rebel BJP candidate Rakesh Kumar Chaudhary for denting the traditional Congress vote bank.
The main contest in Dharamshala was between BJP candidate Vishal Nehria and Chaudhary, who contested as an Independent. Nehria defeated the rebel BJP candidate by a margin of 6,758 votes.
Karan could get only 8,212 votes out of the valid 52,485 votes polled.
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