Despite an embarrassing Rajya Sabha election outing, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu may be allowed to remain in the CMO, at least until the Lok Sabha elections, say party sources, amid a buzz of him facing the prospects of losing his chair in Shimla following the shock cross-voting by six party MLAs and three independents. While the disqualification of the six rebels from the House by the Speaker offered fresh oxygen to the CM, sources said, the longevity of Sukhu’s tenure will now depend on his ability to lead the party’s win on a majority of the four LS seats.
The setback in the RS elections has made the CM’s position untenable, with a section of the Congress MLAs raising a banner of revolt. While BJP floor managers outperformed the rivals in the hill state during the RS elections, the drama over the resignation and its withdrawal by Sukhu’s cabinet colleague, Vikramaditya Singh, added to the CM’s misery, raising doubts about the former being in the driver’s seat in the state.
Amid the brewing political crisis, BJP leaders have stepped up their mindgames by claiming that the party is all set to sweep all four Lok Sabha seats of Himachal Pradesh—Kangra, Mandi, Hamirpur and Shimla. For now, the embattled CM has taken to breakfast diplomacy, meeting his MLAs over tea and snacks, to restore calm in the ranks, while Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Pathania has offered him the cushion to remain in power with a simple majority, by disqualifying the six Congress MLAs who cross-voted in the recently-concluded Rajya Sabha elections.
The catch in the current respite for the CM is that since the Speaker’s decision is subject to judicial scrutiny, the verdict in the upcoming legal battle may favour the sacked Congress MLAs. If this happens then the Congress will not only face the uphill task of winning the Lok Sabha seats, but may also witness the Sukhu government’s fall. That Sukhu was not a clear consensus candidate for the CM’s post was evident from day one after the Grand Old Party came to power in the hill state.
But that the simmering discontent within the party would manifest in such an embarrassing form of crossvoting in RS elections has left central Congress leaders aghast, said a Congress leader. Congress MLAs have been meeting two central observers, D.K. Shivakumar and Bhupendra Hooda. The observers will now submit their report to the party high command. The disqualification of six MLAs—Rajinder Rana, Sudhir Sharma, Indradutt Lakhanpal, Ravi Thakur, Chaitanya Sharma and the Davinder Bhutto—effectively reduces the strength of the 68-member House with the majority mark being 32, two less than the 34 MLAs who voted for the Congress candidate, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, in the RS elections.
The Congress government in the state faces a crisis after six MLAs crossed sides and are learnt to be in touch with the BJP. Before the RS elections, Congress claimed the support of 40 MLAs, including three independents, in the 68-member Assembly. Despite the favourable numbers, Sukkhu 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 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.