Ten Janpath is all set to dump Shri Virbhadra Singh, five time Chief Minister and a very senior leader of the Congress, in the political dustbin of Himachal Pradesh. One may think that he is being penalised for the recent electoral debacle in the hill state. But it is not true. The Congress leadership of the Congress party was very much angry with him due to the Freedom of Religion Act, which he dared to enact nearly a year ago in utter disregard to Smt. Sonia Gandhi.
The result was obvious that earlier he was refused to project as next CM and after the defeat of the party in elections; he was almost rejected for heading the Congress Legislative Party (CLP)
It is pertinent to mention that at that time the BJP, main opposition party, under the leadership of Prof. Prem Kumar Dhumal, had created tremendous pressure on the Congress government to come out with a law which could stop conversions through coercion or allure. Shri Virbhadra Singh, the then Chief Minister, wanted to snatch a poll issue from the BJP. But it boomeranged and invited wrath of Congress president.
When the enactment was done last year, the Christian organisations of the state were not opposed to it. But the Christian leaders of other states and abroad started making hue and cry. They also sent representations to Smt. Sonia Gandhi against the enactment. One of the Senior Christian leaders at national level went on record in Shimla, that once Smt. Sonia Gandhi, much before the enactment in HP, had given him a written assurance that no Congress government would ever enact such law. And if such a law existed in any state, the Congress would certainly scrape it after coming to power. He had questioned that how all this happened in a state being ruled by Congress.
It is also not any secret now that Smt. Sonia Gandhi had conveyed not only her displeasure to the then Chief Minister over the enactment, but also started sidelining him in the Congress. When the assembly elections were announced, the party high command declined to project him as the next Chief Minister. In the distribution of party tickets also, he had a very little say. A large number of tickets were given to the persons having affiliation to the opposite camp. Even in a constituency in Solan district, the son of a former cook of PMO was given chance to fight election by ignoring a senior leader and a former Dy. Speaker, who had affiliation to the Virbhadra camp and the election was lost.
Now when the elections are over and BJP has formed the government with thumping majority, indications are clear that Shri Virbhadra Singh would not be made Congress legislative party leader. The post could be given to Smt. Vidya Stokes, a former minister and close to Smt. Sonia Gandhi.
