Other States - Himachal Pradesh   

"No division within the rank and file of the party''

Staff Correspondent

SHIMLA: The newly elected Rajya Sabha member from the State, Viplov Thakur, who is also the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee president, said here on Tuesday that despite strong opposition by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh to her bid for the Rajya Sabha ticket "there is no division within the rank and file of the party in the State".

She claimed that she had very successfully bridged the gap between the two warring factions in the Congress.

She was addressing her first formal press conference after becoming Rajya Sabha member.

Asked how come the Chief Minister opposed her candidature and proposed some outsiders from the State for the lone Rajya Sabha seat from Himachal Pradesh, the soft-spoken PCC chief said "it is the prerogative of all to try for the nomination in a democratic set-up".

Nomination

She said the nomination was the prerogative of party president Sonia Gandhi and everybody had left the decision to her." Now all have to abide by her decision," she declared.

Defining her priorities, Ms. Thakur said she would forcefully raise the issue of settlement of Pong Dam oustees in Parliament and would work for strengthening the party for the Himachal Assembly polls due in 2008.

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"No division within the rank and file of the party''

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