Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Feb 28: Within hours of submitting his resignation as the public works minister in the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu government in Himachal Pradesh, Mr Vikramaditya Singh, the son of the former six-time chief minister Virbhadra Singh, agreed to withdraw his resignation “in the larger interest of the party.”
Following a meeting with party observers Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Bhupesh Baghel and DK Shivakumar in Shimla, Mr Singh told the media on Wednesday evening that he won’t press for resignation till observers’ dialogue was complete. “In the larger interest and unity of the party, the resignation by me in the morning which the CM refused to accept, I would not like to press it further,” he said.
In what it looked like signs of a thaw in the infighting-riddled Himachal Pradesh unit of the Congress, Mr Singh has taken back his resignation hours after tendering it. Amid a possible threat to the survival of the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu government, Mr Singh had announced his resignation. The minister had accused Mr Sukhu of “negligence” towards MLAs and disrespecting his late father and former chief minister, the tallest of all the Congress leaders in the hill state.
Stating that he will not be pressing for his resignation being accepted after a day of high drama, Mr Singh said, “I have spoken to the observers that were sent by the party high command. The organisation is more important than one individual. Keeping the organisation strong is every individual’s responsibility.”
When reporters asked him whether this meant the threat to the government was over, the minister said, “There was no crisis to begin with. It was a creation. A solution can be found to everything if people work together and take a positive approach. We are here to serve the people of the state and governing is the way to do that. Strengthening the government and serving the people by doing so is everyone’s responsibility.”
Rajiv Shukla, Congress’ Himachal in-charge, who was with Mr Singh when he made the announcement, also said the government has a majority and there was no threat to it.
The Congress battled the crisis 24 hours after a shock defeat in a Rajya Sabha election. Six MLAs, and three independents, cross-voted, siding with the BJP and casting doubts over the majority status of its government. As the dust settled on a frantic day, the Congress strategic thinking brought some respite for the party and the government at least for the time being.
The expulsion of 15 BJP MLAs allowed the ruling party to pass the state budget without contest, meaning its majority status cannot be immediately challenged.
Under-fire Chief Minister Sukhvinder Sukhu struck a defiant note, insisting he had no plans to resign despite claims his government was in the minority. “Neither (has) anyone asked for my resignation nor have I presented it to anyone. We will prove our majority. We will win…” he said, accusing the BJP of “spreading rumours” to break the party.
The Congress had earlier in the morning rushed three ‘observers’ – Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, and ex-Haryana and Chhattisgarh Chief Ministers Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Bhupesh Baghel – to defuse the situation.
Senior leader Jairam Ramesh has vowed action against the cross-voting MLAs (disqualification notices have been served) but said the “priority was to save the Congress government” with an underlining message that
Mr Sukhu might be sacked if the party wanted to pacify the rebel faction that is thought to include Vikramaditya Singh.
The BJP – claiming a boost to its numbers thanks to the cross-voting Congress and independent MLAs on Wednesday sought to force a floor test immediately but the challenge was circumvented by the Congress with the speaker expelling 15 BJP MLAs for causing disruptions in the House proceedings and getting the budget passed by a voice vote in the absence of the opposition. Had the floor test gone through, Mr Sukhu’s government could well have fallen.
The Congress had 40 MLAs in the 68-seat House, where the majority mark is 35. However, if it has lost, as all signs indicate, the six cross-voters, its slips to 34 – one below majority. The BJP had 25 but has now swelled to 34, a tie with the Congress making for a hung House but with the momentum in the saffron party’s favour.
Expelling the BJP MLAs was also a pre-emptive strike against the BJP’s plan to force the ruling party into a floor test, since removing them drops the majority mark to just 27.
As the Congress faced crisis in Himachal Pradesh after a humiliating defeat in the Rajya Sabha polls, party leader Navjot Singh Sidhu called for an assessment of the party’s “assets and liabilities.” Another Congress leader Sachin Pilot expressed hope that the party would resolve the political crisis in the hill state very soon.
The six Congress MLAs, who were issued show-cause notice for defying the whip for Rajya Sabha polls, appeared before the Speaker along with their lawyer and argued that they had not been provided all the relevant documents.