Congress observers appointed to address the crisis in Himachal Pradesh recommended maintaining Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu as Chief Minister till the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections….reports Asian Lite News
Congress observer DK Shivakumar on Thursday averted the crisis in Himachal, saying that Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu government will stay and all the MLAs want Congress government for 5 years, adding that a six-member coordination Committtee is being setup betwen the party and the state government so that no political crisis is created in future.
Holding a press conference, DK Shivakumar said that all the leaders have taken oath to work for the party.
“I am very sorry that our senior leader lost in the Rajya Sabha elections. Our CM has accepted that some failures have happened. We have spoken with all the MLAs, CM and PCC chief personally. All the differences have been sorted out. They will work together. We are forming a co-ordination committee between the party and the government of five to six members. PCC president, CM and Deputy CM will be part of it. All of them have taken an oath that at any point in time, they will all work together to save the party,” DK Shivakumar said.
Bhupinder Singh Hooda, observer appointed for Himachal Pradesh said that the other three members of the co-ordination committee will be announced soon from Delhi.
“The party regrets that our senior leader lost in the Rajya Sabha elections. Everyone knows the reasons behind it and it has also been discussed. We have talked to everyone and whatever differences there have been resolved. It has been decided that everyone will contest the Lok Sabha elections together and send the party to victory from here. A co-ordination committee will be formed with six members which will include PCC President, CM, Deputy CM and others who will be announced from Delhi,” Hooda said.
State Congress President Pratibha Singh pointed out that she had said that there should be talks between the government and the party, for which it has just been announced that a coordination committee will be formed.
Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu pointed out that after the Rajya Sabha elections, it seemed as if our government was going to fall. The game played by BJP was never seen before in the history of Himachal Pradesh.
“A few days ago, a piece of news ran that the CM had resigned. I condemn this. This move was made so that our voting during the budget session gets reduced. We expelled only 15 MLAs because they misbehaved with the Marshal. I definitely say that our government will last for five years. If an MLA gets elected and then sells himself, the people of that area will decide on him in the future,” he said.
After the 2022 Assembly elections, the Congress had 40 MLAs, while the BJP had 25 in the 68-member state assembly. The remaining three seats are held by independents.
With the six rebel MLAs disqualified, the strength of the House has come down from 68 to 62 and the halfway mark is 32 now. With the loss of six MLAs, the Congress now has 34 MLAs and the BJP with independents has 28. The fortunes of the Congress will now rest on its ability to keep the rest of its flock together.
The political crisis in the state was triggered by the Congress losing the Rajya Sabha election on Tuesday despite having a clear majority in the assembly. (ANI)
Cong MLA Vikramaditya Keeps Party Guessing
Congress MLA Vikramaditya Singh who on Wednesday took back his resignation as a minister in the state continues to keep the Congress top brass guessing.
While he has maintained that he would not press the issue of his resignation, the son of former Himachal CM Veerbhadra Singh stayed away from a breakfast meeting called by CM Sukhvinder Sukhu. 32 MLAs were present at the CM’s breakfast meeting while speaker Kuldeep Pathania was adressing the press on his decision to disqualify 6 MLAs.
“I had said that I won’t press it. Dialogues are underway. Observers are here and they trying to set everything right. We will speak with them again…Himachal is ‘devabhoomi’, it has blessings of the deities and I had also gone to Ayodhya and took blessings of Lord Ram. So, we have everyone’s blessings. There is no problem” Vikramaditya Singh said
The Congress MLA is keeping his cards close to his chets chosing his words carefully when questioned about the decision of the speaker to disqualify the six rebel MLAs.
“It is not right for me to say anything on this as of now. Our Observers have come here and they have witnessed and understood the situation. The speaker has taken this decision. So, I don’t think it is correct for me to make a comment on the same. As I said, we will speak with the Observers and we will see what the future course of action will be,” Vikramaditya Singh told ANI on Thursday.
His mother and Congress state President Pratibha Singh was mored direct saying it was natural for MLAs to be upset with the state leadership.
“Definitely, why not? When it has been more than a year and you take no cognisance or listen to them, it is natural for them to be upset. Had you sat them down, talked to them and found out a solution, this situation would not have occurred” Pratibha Singh said.
“Whatever step we took, keeping in mind the sentiments of the people of Himachal Pradesh – the people are connected to us. The legacy of Virbhadra Singh is with us. We are going ahead by following in his sentiments of what he wanted for the state. We brought to their (party high command) knowledge again and again about whatever we thought was not correct. We said these things before them in yesterday’s meeting as well. We are waiting to see what decisions they take” she added.
Earlier today, Himachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania disqualified the six Congress MLAs who cross voted in the Rajya Sabha polls.
Himachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania said, “Six MLAs, who contested on Congress symbol, attracted provisions of anti-defection law against themselves…I declare that the six people cease to be members of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly with immediate effect.”
The six MLAs who have been disqualified are Sudhir Sharma, Rajinder Rana, Davinder K Bhutto, Ravi Thakur, Chaitanya Sharma and Inder Dutt Lakhanpal.
After the 2022 Assembly elections, the Congress had 40 MLAs, while the BJP had 25 in the 68-member state assembly. The remaining three seats are held by independents.
With the six rebel MLAs disqualified the strength of the house comes down from 68 to 62 and the halfway mark is 32. With the loss of 6 MLAs the Congress now has 34 MLAs and the BJP with independents has 28. The fortunes of the Congress will now rest on its ability to keep the rest of its flock together. (ANI)
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