Victory or loss,onus is on HPCC: Virbhadra

The former chief minister said: “I have come here as a common party worker to campaign for the elections. I will first go to Rohru for five days from tomorrow and then to Jawali. I will try my best to ensure success for the party candidates.”

Victory or defeat of the Congress would be the collective responsibility and accountability of the state Congress and “not just of Virbhadra Singh”,he said in reply to a question on whether he was being seen as the star campaigner in the byelections. “I do not think that the entire responsibility of ensuring victory is mine. It is not acceptable either if I am held responsible for the Congress’s defeat in Rohru. If it wins too,the credit will go to the HPCC,” he added.

Expressing his feelings for the people of Rohru,Virbhadra said: “Nothing will hurt me more than the BJP wresting the seat from Congress.”

He preferred silence when asked for his reactions to the Congress high command’s decision to prefer local leader Manjeet Singh over his wife Pratibha for the bypoll ticket. “I feel the party has adopted a new principle of not giving ticket to descendants of a political leader and I am glad that it was started from Rohru,” he said.

Replying to a question pertaining to the absence of senior Congress leaders from Rohru on the nomination day,he said: “They should have gone. I must tell you that whenever I contested from Rohru,I never campaigned for myself even for a single day,yet people trusted me. This is the first time that I will campaign in Rohru for five days.”

Virbhadra was accompanied by Himachal Pardesh Congress Committee president Kaul Singh Thakur,other legislators and Devender Bushahri,the BJP dissident from Rohru,as he addressed the media. He formally welcomed Bushahri to the Congress fold. Bushahri is the son of former Janata Party MLA from Rohru Satya Dev Bushahri.