SHIMLA: Right before the parliamentary elections, the Congress in Himachal Pradesh appears to be heading towards a vertical split with former chief minister Virbhadra Singh and state president Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu drawing daggers against each other. While Virbhadra had stated that under Sukhu the party would not win the parliamentary elections and had demanded changes in the organization, the latter hit back by terming Virbhadra a liar.Addressing mediapersons in Hamirpur on Monday, Virbhadra reportedly said under Sukhu’s leadership the party could not win the coming parliamentary elections. He demanded changes in the organization and an elected new president. This was not the first time when Virbhadra had attacked Sukhu as right before the assembly elections he had asked the high command to change Sukhu. Though in the past Sukhu had downplayed such attacks from Virbhadra, this time he retaliated strongly. On Tuesday, he termed Virbhadra a respectable leader but also called him a liar. He said Virbhadra never studied how the BJP came to power in 1998. He said the former CM was a power-driven politician who played politics by remaining in power.Sukhu said the entire politics of Virbhadra was to strengthen himself while remaining in the Congress. “History reveals that whenever an election is contested under Virbhadra’s chief ministership, the party has faced only defeat,” he said. Sukhu alleged that due to the Virbhadra’s ego cabinet minister Anil Sharma, MLA Balbir Verma, former minister Major Vijay Singh Mankotia and former Shimla mayor Madhu Sood left the Congress. Sukhu claimed that Congress workers despite being unhappy with the government remained in party just because of him.He said that in 2014 parliamentary elections, all four candidates were of the choice of Virbhadra Singh but party lost all four seats, including Mandi seat from where Pratibha Singh (Virbhadra’s wife) was contesting. He said under his tenure as chief minister, the Congress lost two byelections of Sujanpur and Bhoranj. He added that Virbhadra remained chief minister for six terms but not once the party returned to power for a second time in the state. He further said for the coming parliamentary elections Virbhadra instead of issuing statements should work with the organization.

Stay updated with all the Latest Shimla headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.