Amid ominous signs for embattled Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, the political crisis in the ruling Himachal Pradesh Congress deepened on Saturday with six party legislators, disqualified by Himachal Assembly speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania for cross-voting in the recent Rajya Sabha elections, along with three independents and some BJP leaders checked into a hotel in Rishikesh in Uttarakhand.
The resort politics, as the huddling of MLAs at one place before floor tests has come to be known, signals building of dark clouds for Sukhu whose cluelessness about possible cross-voting earned him the party high command’s flak just two days back when he faced sharp questions from the central leadership in Delhi.
As the nine Himachal MLAs camped in a Kaudiyala-based hotel, some 35 km from Rishikesh, on Saturday the buzz within the Congress was that the initial attempts by Sukhu’s emissaries to mend fences with the disgruntled Congress legislators had failed and the rebels were preparing for the final showdown in the Himachal Assembly by remaining in a protected environment till then. Sukhu had levelled allegations of horse-trading and told journalists on Friday, “Is this how democracy will remain strong? Horse trading weakens the democracy.”
To add to the CM’s troubles, cabinet minister Vikramaditya Singh had resigned and withdrawn his decision soon after the cross-voting in the RS election, raising doubts about the number of dissatisfied Congress MLAs being more than six in the Assembly. His mother and state Congress chief Pratibha Singh also accused the CM of being inaccessible. She also drew criticism from two central observers, D.K. Shivakumar and Bhupendra Hooda, who met dissatisfied party MLAs after the RS election defeat.
The observers had recommended the removal of Pratibha Singh as state Congress chief, giving posts in corporations and boards to 12 dissatisfied Congress MLAs and also warned that the BJP may attempt to force a midterm Assembly election, along with the Lok Sabha election, by using the simmering discontent within party due to the CM’s failure to address MLAs’ concerns in time.
The disqualification of six MLAs, Rajinder Rana, Sudhir Sharma, Indradutt Lakhanpal, Ravi Thakur, Chaitanya Sharma and Davinder Bhutto, effectively reduces the strength of the 68-member House with the majority mark being less than 34—the number of MLAs who voted for the Congress candidate, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, in the RS election. The disqualified MLAs have challenged the Speaker’s decision in the Supreme Court. Three independent legislators are, Hoshyar Singh, K.L. Thakur and Ashish Sharma.
The Congress government in Himachal Pradesh faced a crisis after six MLAs crossed sides and got in touch with the BJP. Before the RS election, Congress claimed support of 40 MLAs, including three independents, in the 68-member Assembly. Despite the favourable numbers, Sukhu was not able to ensure the victory of Singhvi. The BJP has 25 MLAs.
The Congress had managed to pass the state budget after the speaker suspended 15 BJP MLAs for allegedly creating a ruckus in his chamber, a move that came under severe criticism from the BJP.
BJP leader Jairam Thakur said, “The (BJP’s) number increased to 34 after the Rajya Sabha voting. This created a danger for the government… They had to pass the budget somehow otherwise the government would fall. For this, they had to decrease the number of BJP MLAs. 15 MLAs including me have been suspended… We were suspended to save the Congress government. After our suspension, they passed the budget.”
Singhvi lost the RS election after nine MLAs, including the six Congress MLAs, cross-voted in a dramatic turn of events in Shimla. One ailing Congress MLA had to be air-lifted. Singhvi was livid in his remark after he lost the poll to the BJP’s nominee Harsh Mahajan, a former Congress leader.