One is the revival of Compact Discs (CDs) war between the ruling BJP and the out-of-power Congress. The other is intensification of factional politics ignited by the two parties organisational elections.

The war of CDs has exposed the seamy side of the hill state's politics which is overshadowed by the enmity between the former Chief Minister and now Union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh and the Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal.

Their enmity had its origin in 1998 when Dhumal, during his first term as Chief Minister, had recommended a CBI probe into the chargesheet against Virbhadra Singh given by the BJP's ally Himachal Vikas Congress chief Sukh Ram who had earlier been expelled from the Congress in the telecommunications scam case. The chargesheet had accused Singh of corruption and misuse of power. After the CBI did not find any prima facie evidence in the allegation, Dhumal asked the state agencies to probe the charges and ordered other inquiries against Singh. None of the inquiries, however, was taken to their logical end before Singh returned to power in 2003.

Virbhdra Singh ordered a Vigilance inquiry into recruitments by the state's Subordinate Services Selection Board in the BJP regime following allegations that the lists of selected candidates were drawn up at the Chief Minister (Dhumal)'s office. Though Dhumal was not made a party, S.M. Katwal, SSSB chairman was convicted and sentenced.

The second phase of the war was triggered by the circulation of an audio CD just before the 2007 Hamirpur Lok Sabha byelection by Major (retired) Vijay Singh Mankotia, a Congress MLA who had been dropped from the Virbhdra Singh cabinet. The BJP won the byelection. The CD, recorded 18 years ago in 1989, purportedly carried a conversation between Virbhadra Singh, his wife Pratibha Singh, then Chief Minister and MP respectively and an IAS officer over “delivery of cash” to the Chief Minister by promoters of a cement company. After coming to power following the 2007 Assembly poll Dhumal ordered an inquiry by state's Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau eventually leading to the filing of a corruption FIR against Virbhadra after he won the Lok Sabha election from Mandi in 2009. The FIR is still pending. Singh has moved the High Court seeking quashing of the FIR claiming it was based on an unauthorised CD.

The latest to add to the CD war are the two audio and one video CD circulated last week by anonymous sources. The first CD refers to the dialogue between Dhumal and his Additional DGP (Vigilance) D.S. Manhas about Singh's charge that his phones are being tapped by the state investigating agencies. Minhas replies that this is the “job of the CID and not Vigilance agency” There is also a reference to Rs.25 crore, though the context is not very clear.

The second CD reportedly again features Dhumal talking of the CD released by Mankotia. A man said to be him is heard saying that he had nothing against Virbhadra Singh or any hand in the 1989 CD. Dhumal also says that the recording at the time may have been done by BJP leader Shanta Kumar's men. Dhumal has ordered a probe by Additional DGP (CID) into the audio CDs featuring him.

The third CD, a video, reportedly features Shimla BJP MP Virender Kashyap, accepting cash from two persons, including a woman, for facilitating their case involving some land in Solan district. Kashyap is seen accepting the money, wrapping it in a newspaper and putting it in his pocket. The recording was reportedly done in a Solan hotel in April 2009 before Lok Sabha polls.

Politicians accused of corruption always describe the charge as fabricated, doctored or politically motivated. This is what Dhumal and Kashyap have also done in the three CDs case which has put them as also the BJP in the dock. The CDs episode raises question why those claiming to be votaries of political morality have not followed the same route of registering an FIR or sending the case to the CBI as they had done in the Mankotia CDs case.

Now about the organisational elections. The organisational elections of BJP and Congress reflect the revival of open factional rivalry between Dhumal and Shanta Kumar in the BJP and Virbhadra Singh and the duo of Vidya Stokes-Kaul Singh, Leader of the Opposition and PCC President respectively in the Congress. Shanta Kumar, treated as BIP's tallest state-level leader before he shifted to national politics, still has his hold particularly in his traditional pocket borough of Kangra, the state's most populous district having 16 Assembly seats. His loyalist Ranjit Singh Pathania has been elected as the new district BJP President despite opposition from Dhumal loyalists. Though Dhumal at present does not have any competing rivals in the state BJP, he is yet to acquire the political stature Shanta Kumar once enjoyed. The future of Shanta Kumar who may like to return and that of Dhumal in the state politics will largely depend on their equation with the party's new central leadership and the latter's perception about their mass support.

Although Virbhadra Singh has shifted to national politics, he continues to be the state's lone Congress leader enjoying statewide mass base. No doubt, the BJP recently wrested Rohru which he had been winning for two decades. The Congress loss, however, was mainly due to the wrong selection of candidate. The factional war between the Virbhadra and Vidya Stokes-Kaul Singh groups is bound to get murkier which will prove a roadblock for the party's objective of returning to power in 2012.

On the other hand, the latest three CDs surfacing after BJP MP Suresh Chandel's expulsion from Lok Sabha three years ago following the cash-for-query scam coupled with the BJP's infighting have proved that the party in Himachal is no longer a holy cow it once used to be viewed. The developments will prove ominous for the party in its future electoral battles.

Himachal is headed for intense political stirrings. (IPA Service)