E-Paper
Himachal crisis: 11 MLAs, including six Congress rebels, reach BJP-ruled Uttarakhand
A bus with Haryana's number plate arrived in Rishikesh's Taj Hotel on Saturday.
Rishikesh: Eleven MLAs, including six Himachal Pradesh Congress rebels, arrived in BJP-ruled Uttarakhand on Saturday, signaling that the infighting in the party is far from over.
A bus with Haryana's number plate arrived in Rishikesh's Taj Hotel on Saturday morning, reported ANI. 11 MLAs, including six rebels and three independent MLAs, disembarked from the heavily guarded bus.
The development comes two days after chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu visited Delhi after being summoned by the Congress top brass.
According to reports, he went to the national capital to present a report on the political situation and hold discussions on the Lok Sabha elections.
Asked if he would take the six rebels back, Sukhu said on Thursday: “If one realises one's fault then that person deserves another chance”.
Also read: Summoned by Congress high command, Sukhu rushes to Delhi
Earlier, Himachal minister Vikramaditya Singh said he had played the role of a mediator between the Congress high command and the rebels, and that the ball was in the court of the national leadership.
Last month, the six rebels and three independents voted in favour of the BJP in the Rajya Sabha elections, resulting in an embarrassing loss to Congress candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi.
The six MLAs – Sudhir Sharma, Ravi Thakur, Rajinder Rana, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Chetanya Sharma and Devinder Kumar Bhutto – were later disqualified.
The rebels have moved the Supreme Court against the Speaker's move.
Why was Sukhu summoned?
The Congress top brass had sent Karnataka deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar, former Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda and former Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel to help the party tide over the crisis.
The observers were to submit a report of their findings to the Congress leadership. Party insiders told HT that a recent report submitted to the Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge cast aspersions over the chief minister’s political acumen, highlighting his “failure” to handle the crisis.
On February, BJP's Harsh Mahajan won the election despite the Congress having the major. The Congress had said it would fix accountability as to why the cross-voting was allowed to take place.
