Habits die hard. Punjab's senior Congress leaders have failed to learn lessons from the past. Despite the patch-ups often 'imposed' by the central leadership between former Chief Ministers Capt. Amarinder Singh and Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, there has been no let-up in the infighting. The rival camps continue to function more as foes than as friends. Often seemingly trying to appear neutral, the PCC's Working President Mohinder Singh Kaypee has failed to rejuvenate the party.

Because of the party being in a state of virtual animation it is losing the opportunity of launching an effective onslaught against the Akali-BJP government, which has been facing a strong anti-incumbency sentiment. To presume that Punjab Congress leaders made any significant contribution to the Akali-BJP's defeat in Lok Sabha elections will be self-deceiving. The Congress victory in eight of the 13 seats was mainly due to the anti-incumbency against the Parkash Singh Badal-led government, social welfare schemes executed by the UPA government and Dr. Manmohan Singh's personal image.

One is intrigued by the party high command's disinterest in the state Congress affairs. Perhaps it thinks it can wait till the state Assembly elections which are two and a half years away. It perhaps does not believe that a stitch in time saves nine.

If the central leadership choose to act, its first priority will have to be to hand over the PCC's reins to a person having a mass image and is capable of taking cudgels with Akali-BJP rulers. In the present Punjab Congress leaders lot, it will find Capt. Amarinder Singh as the most suitable leader for the slot. He is a fighter and has a mass image. He has certain drawbacks like being inaccessible when in power and his friendship with some members of the fair sex, especially Pakistani journalist Aroosa Alam, the traits of many royals of the bygone era. But time and power politics compulsions usually force leaders to mend their ways. They should also remember Bernard Shah's saying that “There is a woman behind a successful man and two behind an unsuccessful man”.

Like Punjab, Himachal Pradesh Congress has also been a victim of infighting. Former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh heading one camp and Vidya Stokes, Leader of the Congress Legislature party, the rival camp have been at loggerheads with each other. In the process the party has suffered. This is also helping the ruling BJP bosses to make Virbhadra Singh, who is the Congress's biggest vote-catcher, the main target of their attacks. The latest example: Registration of an FIR by the state Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau against him and his wife Pratibha Singh, a former MP on the basis of the CD allegedly carrying conversations which had reportedly taken place in 1989 “about money matters between them and some unknown persons.” The Vigilance Bureau is said to have relied primarily on an August 2008 report of the Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Chandigarh stating a very “high probability” of the recorded voice matching with the former Chief Minister.

If the Prem Kumar Dhumal government takes it to the courts, the case certainly raises doubts about the ruling leadership's political motives behind it. The CD was released by former minister and Virbhadra Singh's bete noire Major Vijay Singh Mankotia two years ago. Since then it has been resurrected before every elections. It has now been resurrected in view of the pending by-elections.

Virbhadra Singh and Prem Kumar Dhumal are arch foes and have been launching personal attacks and court cases against each other. The latest insurrection of the CD will create an impression that the ruling BJP leadership is resorting to political vendetta against Virbhadra Singh who happens to be the Congress leader enjoying largest mass base in the state. Any failure of Virbhadra Singh's opponents in the Congress to go on an offensive against the government on the issue would further widen the schism in the party which can prove suicidal for it.

Although factionalism in Jammu and Kashmir Congress is ostensibly not as deep as in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, the recent public diatribes between the Union Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and Saifudin Soz do not augur well for the party's health. It is not realised by the feuding camps that destabilisation of Congress is not only not in the interest of the ruling party but also not for the trouble-torn State. Perhaps the central leadership needs to remain vigilant about the state party affairs.

As compared to the three states, Haryana Congress finds itself relatively in a better state. The loud voices of dissent often raised in the past four years by certain sections of the party including some ministers about the Hooda government's functioning have fallen silent after the decision to hold mid-term elections. This, however, does not mean that the ruling party does not face challenges. It will face a difficult situation that is bound to be created by the hordes of the ticket-seekers, particularly those opposition leaders who recently deserted their parent opposition parties- INLD, BJP and Haryana Janhit Congress (Bhajan Lal). They will have to be given tickets at the cost of some senior Congress aspirants including members of the dissolved Assembly. Most of those denied tickets will turn rebels with the potential of damaging the party's prospects.

On how the party leadership will deal with such a situation will depend the ruling party's extent of electoral success. (IPA Service)