Turmoil in Himachal Congress, govt as ex-MLA escalates attack on Sukhu with inaction charge

4 min readShimlaJun 5, 2026 09:21 PM IST

Former Himachal Pradesh MLA Neeraj Bharti (right) escalated the attack on Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu (left) on Friday saying the CM only gives assurances not no work has been done. (Express photo)

The Himachal Pradesh Congress on Friday accepted the resignation of Neeraj Bharti from the post of party unit’s vice-president even as the former MLA alleged irregularities in the processing of contactors’ payments in the state and escalated the attack on Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, saying he gives assurances, but works are not done. Sukhu, on his part, said Bharti was “not a big issue”.

Bharti, a former MLA from Jawali on Thursday sent a two-page resignation letter to party state president Vinay Kumar and district president Anurag Thakur saying that in the past three years, the government has “let down the hardworking, resilient and dedicated Congress workers who fought against all odds and played a pivotal role in establishing the Congress government”.

“Bharti’s resignation has been accepted. His tenure as vice-president has ended now,” a party general secretary Vinod Jinta said.

Bharti, the son of State Agriculture Minister Chander Kumar, who had earlier expressed dissatisfaction over the administrative functioning in state, made several posts on social media levelling allegations about the way in which contractors’ payments were being processed.

“One does not know when the transfer process begins or when it ends. To add to it, there is no trace of the DOs (demi-official letters) that are sent,” he alleged in a post.

Bharti said said it was “disheartening to see” workers who stand by the party under all circumstance “being ignored” after the party comes to power. “I have no personal grudge against CM Sukhu and I didn’t speak out against him merely for the sake of opposition. In fact, even before he became the CM, I acknowledged him as a fighter and a leader who stood firm by his convictions,” he said, adding that he would not have spoken against the leaders of his own party had it functioned properly, listened to its workers and addressed people’s needs.

Contrasting Sukhu’s tenure with that of the Virbhadra Singh’s from 2012 to 2017, when he served as the chief parliamentary secretary, Bharti said a task was completed within two days once someone was told their work would be done. Now, however, one has to think 10 times before giving assurances simply because there is no clue about what will happen next, he claimed. In a post, he alleged that it was not right to blame everything on :lack of funds” when the “right intent, willpower and the ability to make decisions” for even routine tasks are missing.

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Bharti said the consequences of the government’s actions are beginning to show in the form of results of the local body elections.

Responding to a question on Bharti’s resignation, former state Congress chief Pratibha Singh said she has been long advocating that workers who have toiled day and night for the victory of the party should be given due respect, rewarded and motivated. Bharti’s grievance should be addressed through dialogue, she said.

In a statement, Leader of Opposition and former chief minister Jai Ram Thakur, said the allegations levelled against the CM by a senior office-bearer of his own party are “deeply embarrassing”.

“Such accusations against a chief minister are unimaginable and silence on such a massive corruption scandal is enough to draw suspicion about the entire affair,” he said, adding the CM will not be able to conceal the government’s corruption for long by lying and misleading the public.

With PTI inputs