Congress staves off crisis in Himachal for now, 6 rebels disqualified

Following the disqualifications, the effective strength of the House has reduced from 68 to 62, with the Congress count at 34. The BJP has 25 MLAs.

After a day of meetings between AICC observers and state party leaders, the Congress leadership decided to set up a six-member coordination committee, tasked with ironing out the differences within the state unit. The committee includes both Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and state party president Pratibha Singh, who addressed a joint press conference with AICC observers at the CM’s official residence in the evening.

The truce, however, appear tenuous, as sources in the central leadership underlined that the crisis for the government, and especially Sukhu, seems to be over “only for the time being”.

Pratibha Singh and her son Vikramaditya Singh have reluctantly agreed to the central leadership’s decision to set up the committee, but are far from happy, sources said. AICC observer D K Shivakumar said Vikramaditya Singh, son of former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, who had resigned from the Cabinet on Wednesday, had “withdrawn his resignation”.

A large section of the high command believes that Sukhu does not inspire confidence among a large number of MLAs, which is a matter of concern. He, however, continues to enjoy the support of Rahul Gandhi. According to sources, the Himachal affair will be discussed once Rahul is back from abroad on Friday.

On Thursday, however, Shivakumar, who was present at the press conference in Shimla along with Bhupinder Singh Hooda, assured that “there will be a Congress government in the state, and Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu is our Chief Minister”. Announcing the decision to set up a six-member committee, he said Sukhu took responsibility for the defeat of the Congress’s official candidate, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, following cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha election.

“The party is saddened by this loss. In this defeat, we lost an excellent leader, Abhishek Manu Singhvi. However, we have resolved our differences within the party, and a six-member committee will be formed. CM Sukhu and state Congress president Pratibha Singh will be members of this committee,” Shivakumar said.

“I accept it could be an intelligence failure, but it is also my failure. If they (the six rebel MLAs) wish to return, the Congress is ready to welcome them back. The challenge is how to contact them, as their phones are switched off. We are in contact with the wives of two of the MLAs,” Sukhu said.

“The high command has decided to form a six-member committee to address differences. The Congress was united and remains united. Our primary goal now is to secure a victory in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Himachal,” Pratibha Singh said.

Targeting the BJP, Sukhu said: “Right before the Budget Session, the BJP spread rumors about my resignation, affecting the voting of Congress MLAs. I want to say that the BJP is engaging in cheap politics. I don’t know on what grounds they are talking about forming a government in Himachal Pradesh.”