In the war of nerves between Virbhadra Singh and Vidya Stokes — the two contenders for the Himachal Pradesh chief ministership — the latter seems to have buckled under the strain as she landed in Delhi today to meet party president Sonia Gandhi.Party sources say today’s meeting became necessary because of two reasons. One, Virbhadra isn’t too pleased about leaving the post to any other leader. And two, over half of the MLAs in the CLP belong to Virbhadra’s camp. Prime MInister contradicting self on Himachal: Congress NEW DELHI: The Congress on Monday termed as ‘‘self-contradictory’’ the explanation of Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee that the BJP lost in Himachal Pradesh Assembly polls due to ‘‘internal squabbles’’. ‘‘The Prime Minister tried to explain the defeat as a result of internal squabbles in his party. But that explanation was half-hearted as he himself admitted there were no enthusiasm in the crowd in his meetings,’’ Congress spokesperson Jaipal Reddy said. Vajpayee’s explanation was ‘‘self-contradictory,’’ Reddy said, adding the Congress was of the view that it was ‘‘a victory of liberal forces over communal forces’’. ‘‘BJP leaders, including the PM, swooped on Himachal Pradesh but they failed to produce any impact on the electorate.’’ Meanwhile, the party also sought downplay its failure to retain Gauriganj Assembly constituency which falls under Amethi Lok Sabha constituency represented by Sonia Gandhi. ‘‘We don’t consider it a setback. In Uttar Pradesh, the Congress is not in a good health. Yet we emerged a close second in the Assembly by-election,’’ Reddy said. (ENS) However, given the proximity of Stokes to Sonia, there’s talk of the creation of a deputy chief minister’s post within party circles. Party general secretary incharge of Himachal Mohsina Kidwai said the question of deputy chief minister is ‘‘open,’’ indicating that it hasn’t been ruled out.The crucial CLP meeting will be held tomorrow in Shimla. The ‘central observers’ to be present there are expected to carry with them Sonia’s opinion on the matter, which would be final. Three central observers — Mohsina Kidwai, AICC treasurer Motilal Vora and senior leader R.K. Dhawan — also met Sonia today.If the post of deputy chief minister is created, this would be the third Congress state to have such an arrangement. Madhya Pradesh has two deputy chief ministers — Subash Yadav and Jamuna Devi, a tribal leader, in a state which with tribal vote-bank. Similarly in Rajasthan, two deputy chief ministers were recently appointed.In the case of Himachal, if a deputy chief minister is appointed, the person would have to primarily represent the apple-growing region of the state, to which incidentally, both Stokes and Singh belong.Denying that she was here to push her case with the party president, Stokes said she was in Delhi ‘‘only for a few hours’’ to see an ailing relative. ‘‘Since I happened to be here I met Sonia and thanked her for the party’s victory in Himachal Pradesh,’’ she added.
