Congress to join hands with Sukh Ram in Mandi

Former Union Minister Sukh Ram, who had a disgraceful exit from national politics and who allied with the Bharatiya Janata Party till last w...

Former Union Minister Sukh Ram, who had a disgraceful exit from national politics and who allied with the Bharatiya Janata Party till last week, is all set to have a seat adjustment with the Congress, his former party.

But the Congress wants to limit the arrangement to Mandi and is waiting to know if Sukh Ram will bite the bait.

The Congress has already prepared a blueprint for seat adjustments with Sukh Ram’s Himachal Vikas Congress in his constituency, Mandi, as it realised that the former telecommunication minister’s clout is now restricted to the area. The last assembly had 31 seats each for the Congress and BJP and five for the HVC.

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A seat adjustment before the elections, on the lines of the Congress-People’s Democratic Party front in J-K, could lead to a solution in case of a hung assembly. While Sukh Ram has ruled out any chance of alliance BJP, he has said that unofficial talks are on with the Congress for an ‘‘honourable seat adjustment.’’

The party prepared an assessment report on all the 67 seats in the state and it was submitted to the Congress high command last week. The report details the chances of the Congress in case of a triangular fight with the HVC and the BJP. It says the HVC could make Congress suffer reversals only in four seats of Mandi.

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