BJP trying to topple our govts in Himachal, Manipur, allege Congress

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Unrest had been brewing in the Himachal Congress for some time now. The rift, in fact, had come out in the open in October last year when as many as four Congress MLAs skipped a show of strength organised by the Chief Minister before Congress president Sonia Gandhi following the CBI’s raid at his residence. Sources said some of the MLAs then had a dinner meeting with a BJP cabinet minister.

In Manipur, the Okram Ibobi Singh government is facing a serious crisis after 25 rebel MLAs revolted against him.

“We are leaving it to the Congress’s own legislators,” said a senior BJP leader. BJP sources said dissidents in the 60-member Manipur Assembly — where the Congress has 42 MLAs — could join the BJP if their demands were not met by the Congress leadership. BJP leaders said “unhappy Congress MLAs” of Himachal, too, have been in touch with them.

BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, who played a key role in the political developments in Uttarakhand, told The Indian Express that “rebellions are going to happen” in Congress-ruled states across the country.

“The Congress’s national leadership, with its style of functioning and its siding with anti-national forces, has distanced party leaders. They no longer have faith in the leadership. That is the reason behind the rebellion. Such rebellions are going to happen across the country,” Vijayvargiya said.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was quoted as saying by PTI that pitfalls of the Congress leadership, which he said was not merit-based, is clearly being reflected in the recent developments. He said “one of the principal grievances, a lot of its tall leaders have had, was the inability to communicate with the central decision makers or decision maker”.

During his meeting with Sonia, the Himachal CM is learnt to have discussed the cases against him and dissident activities in the state. On its part, the Congress fears repeat of the events that unfolded in Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand in Himachal Pradesh and Manipur. There is anger among a huge section of the leaders over the way the high command handled the situation in Arunachal and Uttarakhand.

Many top leaders feel Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi should have met dissident MLAs from both the states and found a way out. The criticism perhaps prompted Sonia to meet Singh immediately, as it is said she did not give him an audience the last time he was here to meet her. Singh later said the BJP government is trying to “destabilise and topple” his government by using central agencies.

Referring to Arunachal and Uttarakhand, he said the Centre has been destabilising Congress-ruled states one after another. He also accused the BJP government of misusing government agencies to embroil him in different cases.

At the AICC briefing, spokesperson R P N Singh said the BJP was trying to topple its governments in Manipur and Himachal and argued that even Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said the BJP had tried to destabilise his government.