Virbhadra prefers Central rule to sitting in opposition

SHIMLA, March 10: Himachal Pradesh may be in for a brief spell of President's rule should Virbhadra Singh fail prove majority on the floor o...

SHIMLA, March 10: Himachal Pradesh may be in for a brief spell of President’s rule should Virbhadra Singh fail prove majority on the floor of the House on March 12. The Chief Minister now plans to do exactly the opposite of what he had said only a day before. He will rule the state or prefer Central rule until the three Assembly elections and one bye-election are held on June 22, but would not let the Bharatiya Janata party-Himachal Vikas Congress hold the reins, making him sit in the Opposition.

These are the broad contours of the contingency plan drawn up by Virbhadra Singh and his band of strategists and confided in this reporter by sources close to the powers that be.

“The BJP will not be allowed to assume power at any cost” declared a former minister. However, the plan to “buy” support of at least two HVC legislators on the day when the Chief Minister moves the motion seeking confidence of the House, will be pressed into action. Although the HVC legislators had refused to support the Congresswhen paraded before Governor V S Rama Devi, the Congress claims that they would return to the party-fold once released from the custody of Punjab Minister Madan Mohan Mittal. The Congress remains confident of winning the majority vote. The present strength of the Congress 32 (31 plus one) would again be reduced to 31 against the BJP-HVC strength of 32, once one member gets elected or nominated as Speaker. Had the election of the Speaker been fixed before the confidence vote, the Congress Government would have fallen. If the plan to win over support of the HVC legislators fails, the Chief Minister would immediately recommend to the Governor for placing the state under President’s rule till June next to thwart the BJP’s move to stake its claim for power.

Story continues below this ad

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister today sent a strong rejoinder to President K R Narayanan, contesting the charges levelled by the BJP against Governor V S Rama Devi. He maintained that the Congress had the support of 31 MLAs plus one Independent Ramesh Chaudhry,the day he took the oath and described the decision of the Governor as ”absolutely judicious and impartial.”

The fact, however, remains that the Independent MLA had not supported the Congress or the BJP when Virbhadra was invited to form government).

The Chief Minister has accused the BJP-HVC combine of misleading the Governor on the strength of its MLAs. The BJP had only 28 MLAs and its claim of 29 (one having died) was false. The Chief Minister also denied that the BJP legislators were assaulted on the night of March 5 but alleged that they had tried to take into their custody the Independent legislator, who was on his way to meet him. He also questioned the post-poll alliance of the BJP with HVC.

External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar speaking on the 80th anniversary of the United Nations (X/@DrSJaishankar)

Jaishankar says UN ‘visibly gridlocked’ as Pak shields terror outfit linked to Pahalgam

India10 min ago

India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar criticizes Pakistan for sheltering terrorists at the UN Security Council, highlighting the gridlocked state and polarized debates of the organization. He questions the credibility of multilateralism, citing Pakistan's attempt to block the naming of a terror outfit.

View all shorts

Live Blog

PHOTOS