Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh on Thursday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and union home minister Amit Shah amid the ongoing political crisis in Himachal Pradesh, saying that the BJP top leaders have failed to topple and destabilise the elected Congress government in the state.
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He said that the situation in the hill state is completely under control due to the grand old party's leaders' intervention and promptness of the Congress' observers.
"Various things are going on in the media regarding Himachal. But we want to say one thing very clearly. The Prime Minister and the so-called Chanakya have completely failed in Himachal. After the intervention of the Congress leadership and the promptness of our observers, the situation there is completely under the control of the Congress," Ramesh said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
The Congress leader further said that the saffron camp has failed to topple the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu government as the blessings of the Himachali people are with the Congress.
{{/usCountry}}The Congress leader further said that the saffron camp has failed to topple the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu government as the blessings of the Himachali people are with the Congress.
{{/usCountry}}"Like other states, BJP had started the game of money power, power and muscle power in Himachal too to destabilize the Congress government elected by the people with absolute majority. But they failed because the blessings of the people of Himachal are with Congress. After this incident our resolve has become stronger. We will continue to serve the people of Himachal," he added.
Read here: Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu’s future in question as Congress battles to save Himachal government
The political turmoil unfolded in Himachal Pradesh when the BJP claimed that the Sukhu-led government was in minority after the former won the state's lone Rajya Sabha seat with its candidate Harsh Mahajan defeating Congress stalwart Singhvi in an election marred with cross-voting.
Chief minister Sukhu affirmed that his government was in the majority and would complete its five-year term. Congress had deputed Bhupesh Baghel, DK Shivakumar and Bhupinder Hooda as observers to speak to the party MLAs and then submit a report to president Mallikarjun Kharge.
Congress MLA Vikramaditya Singh, who had resigned and then withdrawn his resignation, continues to keep the Congress top brass guessing. Singh maintained that he would not press the issue of his resignation, but the son of former Himachal CM Veerbhadra Singh stayed away from a breakfast meeting called by Sukhu.
Earlier today, Himachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania disqualified the six Congress MLAs who cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha polls.
Read here: Himachal Speaker disqualifies six rebel Congress MLAs
Pathania said, "Six MLAs, who contested on Congress symbol, attracted provisions of anti-defection law against themselves...I declare that the six people cease to be members of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly with immediate effect."
The six MLAs disqualified are Sudhir Sharma, Rajinder Rana, Davinder K Bhutto, Ravi Thakur, Chaitanya Sharma and Inder Dutt Lakhanpal.
After the 2022 Assembly elections, the Congress had 40 MLAs, while the BJP had 25 in the 68-member state assembly. The remaining three seats are held by independents.