A day after the Congress’s central observers asserted that “all is well” within the party’s Himachal Pradesh unit, it appears the crisis could be far from over with Cabinet Minister Vikramaditya Singh on Friday rushing to New Delhi, seeking a dialogue with the party “high command”.
Mr. Vikramaditya’s move came even as Pratibha Singh, the State Congress chief and his mother, indicated that the Congress needs to get its act together ahead of the Lok Sabha election.
Mr. Vikramaditya also met the rebel Congress MLAs in Haryana on Monday. As per his official programme, he is slated to meet Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Saturday, as part of his two-day visit to Delhi.
The political turmoil in Himachal Pradesh started when six Congress legislators cross-voted in favour of the BJP in the Rajya Sabha elections on February 27. They were later disqualified from the Assembly by Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania. The ground for disqualification, however, was their absence from the Assembly when the State Budget and the Finance Bill were being put to vote, defying a party whip to vote in favour of the government.
After the cross-voting, State Minister Vikramaditya announced — and then took back — his resignation, bringing the leadership tussle in the State Congress unit to the fore.
Sensing trouble, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge deputed former Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel, former Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, and Karnataka Deputy CM D.K. Shivakumar as the All India Congress Committee’s (AICC) observers, asking them to submit a report after talking to all party MLAs and getting to know their grievances.
On February 29, the AICC observers asserted that differences had been resolved and the government would complete its tenure in the State. However, a day after the assurances, a meeting of Mr. Vikramaditya with some of the disqualified Congress MLAs in Haryana’s Panchkula at a private hotel on Friday was being keenly watched. The presence of Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s publicity advisor Tarun Bhandari with Mr. Vikramaditya too raised eyebrows. Mr. Vikramaditya later went to Delhi, where he was expected to meet the party’s central leadership.
In Shimla, Ms. Singh acknowledged that at the moment, the BJP is better placed than the Congress, in terms of election preparedness. She also expressed support for the six disqualified Congress MLAs, pointing out that they would have been hurt. She said, “...they are all Congressmen and were fighting for their rights. They had some demands. Had they been heard before, such a situation could have been averted.”
Ms. Singh, the widow of former Chief Minister, the late Virbhadra Singh, said the party’s central leadership would be altered about the prevailing situation in Himachal. “We will urge them [high command] to take a decision quickly. Based on the directions of the high command, we will move further,” she said.
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, however, downplaying the issue, said Mr. Vikramadiyta had informed him about the meeting with the rebel Congress MLAs. “He [Vikramaditya] stated that some MLAs had called him and expressed their willingness to return. I then asked Mr. Vikramaditya to speak with them, and also to talk to the high command. He would be meeting Kharge ji today. I once again reiterate that there’s no danger to the Congress government,” he said in Shimla.
Also during the day, at a public meeting in Kasauli city, Mr. Sukhu said that some Congress MLAs had sold their souls and went against the party ethics to cross-vote in the Rajya Sabha elections. “Those who betrayed the party and above all played with the sentiments of the people of the State won’t be spared even by the Almighty,” he said. Mr. Sukhu further said the six rebel MLAs abstained themselves from the House (Assembly) when the Budget was being passed with a motive to “overthrow the government”.
