Himachal Pradesh Revenue Minister Jagat Singh Negi has stirred fresh trouble inside the Congress by accusing some party appointees of secretly working for the BJP. Speaking at the Congress headquarters, Negi said the party cannot fight its external rivals until it removes "the enemy within."
According to The Tribune, Negi claimed that some individuals inducted into the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) at the state, district, and block levels are "BJP sleeper cells." The remark has triggered fresh murmurs within the party.
What Negi Said About Fighting BJP and RSS
Negi made his position clear in a direct statement while addressing a programme at the Congress headquarters. His words were pointed and left little room for interpretation.
"Our fight is with the BJP and the RSS. Until we destroy the enemy within the party, how can we fight the enemy outside?" — Jagat Singh Negi via The Tribune
The remarks came in the presence of HPCC president Vinay Kumar. This detail matters because Negi has previously opposed some organisational appointments publicly, and saying this in front of the party chief signals an open challenge to the current leadership structure.
Negi's Sharpest Criticism Targets Nigam Bhandari
Negi did not stop at a general warning. According to The Tribune, his sharpest criticism was directed at Nigam Bhandari's appointment as president of the Kinnaur District Congress Committee. Negi described Bhandari as the BJP's "B team and sleeper cell."
This is not a vague complaint. Negi is naming a specific person and a specific role. He is questioning why someone he believes is aligned with the BJP was given a leadership position in the Congress party structure.
- Negi accused appointees at three levels: state, district, and block
- He made the remarks publicly at the Congress headquarters
- HPCC president Vinay Kumar was present during the statement
- The specific target was Nigam Bhandari's appointment in Kinnaur
Our Take: Internal Fights Weaken the Congress
To put it plainly, Negi's statement is a double-edged sword. On one hand, he is raising a legitimate concern about party loyalty. If people who sympathise with the BJP hold positions inside the Congress, that is a real problem for the party's decision-making.
On the other hand, making such accusations publicly — and naming a specific person — does not look like an attempt to fix the problem quietly. It looks like a power struggle playing out in the open. The Congress is already fighting the BJP and RSS in elections. Spending energy on internal accusations, whether true or not, distracts from that larger fight.
What readers should take from this is simple: the Congress in Himachal is not united. When a senior minister publicly calls his own party members "sleeper cells" for the opposition, it signals deep internal divisions. Voters will notice. And the BJP, which is the target of these accusations, will likely use this to argue that the Congress cannot manage itself, let alone the state.
Negi's warning about the "enemy within" may be sincere. But the way he has delivered it — publicly, sharply, and with a named target — suggests the Congress has a bigger internal problem than it wants to admit.