Himachal Congress turmoil: Away from CM’s breakfast, rebels talk of moving Supreme Court

“We are going to the Supreme Court tomorrow. We have been accused of a crime which happened on February 28 and we got a notice about that at 11.57 pm on February 27. How come they knew of the murder a day in advance? The Speaker has acted in haste and under pressure of the CM and the high command. The decision is unconstitutional,” said Rajinder Rana.

Blaming “mukhyamantri ki karya pranali (the CM’s way of functioning)” for the sorry state of affairs, the rebel from Sujanpur constituency maintained they had been voicing their concern about the treatment being meted out to the elected representatives. “But no one listened to us.”

Sudhir Sharma, the rebel from Dharamshala, too, claims to have been humiliated despite having been elected for the fourth time. “The respect that a legislator should get was missing. Moreover, the government is not fulfilling any of the guarantees announced during the Assembly elections.”

Davinder Butto, the rebel from Kutlehar, draws attention to one specific guarantee of giving Rs 1,500 to women. “Wherever I go, women ask me when they will get Rs 1,500. I have no answer. I have been trying to get funds for my constituency, but I got no concrete answer.”

The youngest among the rebels and the one who eats no breakfast and nothing after sunset, Chaitanya Sharma claims his Gagret constituency has been ignored in terms of development. “The CM came to Gagret and made five announcements. But work has been initiated only in respect of two of them. The CM’s attitude has been quite dictatorial.”

Chaitanya says the biggest allurement for him is “to work for the people of his constituency”. A lawyer by qualification, he is considering filing a defamation suit for being accused of accepting money in return for voting for the BJP candidate in the Rajya Sabha election. “It was a conscious decision to vote for a Himachali in the RS election.”

Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, the rebel from Barsar, lists the probable candidates from Himachal who could have been fielded in the RS election. “Anand Sharma has worked hard for the party for so long. If not him, then Kaul Singh Thakur or Ram Lal Thakur could have been picked up. But no bahri candidate, please!”

Inder Dutt’s litany of complaints goes beyond CM Sukhu. “I have worked for the party for 42 years. But things have worsened in the last 10 to 15 years. Now there is no presence of Seva Dal, Mahila Congress, Youth Congress and NSUI at the grassroots. The central observers come and stay in hotels. They don’t interact with the party workers. They don’t even reciprocate namastes.”

Ashish Sharma, an Independent from Hamirpur, finds the CM quite inaccessible. “Despite belonging to the CM’s area, I had been trying in vain to get an appointment with him for the last seven months.”