Congress president Rahul Gandhi is arriving in Shimla on Friday to review the reasons for the party’s defeat in the 2017 Assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh.
Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) chief Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said Gandhi will hold meetings with party MLAs, defeated candidates, party office-bearers and heads of frontal organisations to discuss the reasons that led to the poll debacle.
The Congress party, which formed the government with 36 seats in 2012, got only 21 seats in 2017.
“He will arrive in the morning and will return to Delhi in the evening after several rounds of meetings,” said Sukhu. The party in-charge for Himachal and AICC general secretary, Sushil Kumar Shinde has already submitted a report to the Congress president, analysing various factors that led to the defeat of some candidates.
Former health minister, Kaul Singh Thakur (Darang) and Deepak Rathore (Theog) may have blamed party leaders for their defeat. The Congress MLAs are yet to elect the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader but the popular choice may again be six-time former CM, Virbhadra Singh.