With Himachal Pradesh's 2027 assembly elections still on the horizon, the battle lines are already being drawn — and Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu is wasting no time putting the ruling Congress's rivals on the defensive. On Monday, 26 October 2026, Sukhu took to X to accuse the Bharatiya Janata Party of having looted the state's resources during its tenure and of being fractured into five competing factions.

Posting in Hindi, Sukhu wrote: 'Bhajapa ne satta mein rahte hue Pradesh ki sampada ko lutane mein koi kasar nahin chodi.' ('The BJP left no stone unturned in looting the state's resources while in power.') He went further, claiming that Himachal BJP is split into five groups — one faction backing BJP National President Jagat Prakash Nadda for the electoral contest, while the remaining four rally behind their own respective leaders.

The Five-Faction Charge and What It Means for 2027

The allegation of internal fragmentation is pointed. Sukhu stated he had raised this five-faction split publicly before, framing it as an established political reality rather than a fresh accusation. By naming Nadda specifically — a Himachal native who rose to lead the BJP nationally — Sukhu signals that even the party's most prominent face from the state cannot hold its own house together. The claim, if it lands with voters, chips at the BJP's organisational credibility heading into a crucial cycle.

The BJP governed Himachal Pradesh from 2017 to 2022 under Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur before losing to Congress in the December 2022 assembly elections. Sukhu's reference to resource 'looting' during that tenure is a direct attempt to keep that governance record alive in public memory — and to tie factional chaos to alleged misgovernance as a single, compounding narrative.

Sukhu Hands the Verdict to Voters

The Chief Minister closed with a deliberate flourish of democratic deference: '2027 mein kise satta mein lana hai, iska faisla janta karegi.' ('Who to bring to power in 2027 — that decision will be made by the people.') It is a classic closing move — frame the opponent as divided and discredited, then step back and let the electorate appear to do the rest.

Factional tensions within Himachal's state BJP are not new. The hill state has a long history of competing regional satraps and caste-bloc calculations that resist neat central command. Whether the BJP's state leadership responds with a public show of unity — or stays silent — will itself become a data point in the months ahead.

The 2027 Himachal election is shaping up as a referendum not just on Sukhu's Congress government, but on which version of the BJP — if any single version — actually arrives at the starting line.