Himachal Pradesh: Rebel Congress Members Claim Nine More Congress MLAs may Cross over to BJP

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Mar 2: Even as the speaker by disqualifying six Congress Members of the State Assembly may have staved off the immediate collapse of the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh, the crisis facing the chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu seems to be far from being over considering the overtures of the disgruntled elements.

The Himachal minister Vikramaditya Singh, the son of the six-time former chief minister Virbhadra Singh, has sent the Congress leadership in a huddle again after he removed his official designation from his Facebook bio. Formerly identified as the PWD Minister and an Indian National Congress member, his bio now just reads “servant of Himachal.” Both Mr Singh and his mother Pratibha Singh, who is the state Congress president, are believed to have extended more sympathy to the rebel leaders than the party government in the state.

The rebel Congress MLAs, who are now being protected by the Haryana BJP leaders, also showed no signs of regrets for putting the party government in a crisis situation. Rejecting the chief minister’s claim that the rebel MLAs were showing willingness to return to the party fold, Rajinder Rana, one of the six Himachal Pradesh Congress MLAs who cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha elections and was later disqualified from the assembly, on Saturday rubbished his claim. On the contrary, he claimed, that at least nine more party legislators were in touch with them and would desert the party government any moment.

Accusing Mr Sukhu of misleading people with his statements, Mr Rana said “No one wants to return. On the other hand, at least nine more MLAs are in touch with us.” On the other hand, Mr Sukhu claimed that “80 per cent of the Congress is together” and the rest were dissatisfied over “trivial issues”. He claimed that he held discussions with the six disqualified MLAs and the situation would “surely get better after the formation of the coordination committee.”

Another disqualified Congress MLA Inder Dutt Lakhanpal told Press Trust of India, “Some people will now call us rebels or traitors. But we aren’t. We listened to our conscience. It was our personal decision.”

The Congress government in Himachal Pradesh almost fell after a Rajya Sabha election loss, and has since then been in firefighting mode. Mr Singh who had announced his resignation from the Sukhu cabinet but later agreed not to press for his resignation after meeting the high command observers, had met the other rebel Congress MLAs before leaving for New Delhi on Friday. Sources reveal that Mr Singh could meet key BJP leaders in Delhi, including prominent figures like former Chief Minister Jairam Thakur and State President Rajiv Bindal.

He has publicly accused the Congress of disrespecting his father, even though they sought votes in the last assembly elections in his name. Simultaneously, the Sukhu government has appointed Ramapur MLA Nandalal as the Chairman of Himachal Pradesh Finance Commission, replacing Vikramaditya Singh. The move is seen as a measure that Mr Singh may have fallen out of favour within the party.

On Wednesday, as the Congress dealt with the challenge of cross-voting MLAs, Vikramaditya Singh had announced his resignation. He accused the Chief Minister of “negligence” towards his lawmakers and broke down as he accused the party of not allotting land for a statue of his father. That same day the Congress pulled off a last-gasp manoeuvre to save itself, expelling 15 BJP MLAs to bring down the effective strength of the House and pass the state budget. Soon after, Vikramaditya Singh took back his resignation.

The chief minister has accused the rebel MLAs who voted against the party of being “black snakes” who sold their honour. “How can people who sell their honour for money serve the people of their constituency,” he said, while addressing a public meeting in Dharampur. “In political life, people who betray their party which gave them a chance to contest elections are called “black snakes,” he said.

Mr Sukhu, however, gave a different version of Mr Singh’s meetings with the rebel Congress MLAs in Chandigarh. “Vikramaditya Singh was in the cabinet meeting yesterday. I had a discussion with him. After the cabinet meeting, he went to Chandigarh and met other legislators at Lalit Hotel there. He has tried to influence the minds of other (rebel) MLAs. Some of them want to come back to the Congress,” the Chief Minister claimed.

Mr Sukhu also shared that he had a word with Vikramaditya Singh, a former royal and also the son of six-time chief minister Late Virbhadra Singh. “I had a word with him (Vikramaditya Singh) in the morning at 7 am, then again at noon. I have told him to speak with the high command as well,” the Chief Minister said.

Mr Sukhu said while one of the rebel MLAs had telephoned him and shared his interest to come back to the Congress, the BJP which is taking all steps to topple the Congress government in the hill state, has allegedly stationed more CRPF troops at Panchkula’s Lalit Hotel where the six rebel Congress MLAs are currently staying.

“One of the MLAs rang me up and told me that he wants to come back to the Congress. But he can only come back when he is within Himachal’s boundary. He is at Panchkula’s Lalit Hotel. I have just heard that more CRPF personnel have been stationed there,” the Chief Minister said. Mr Sukhu said that he would welcome the rebel Congress MLA who wants to come back to the Congress’ fold and the party would not take any coercive measures.