Congress mulls replacing Himachal CM to survive political scare

NEW DELHI: Himachal Pradesh, Congress Party’s lone bastion up in the north is passing through turbulent times as chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s reign is teetering on the edge. It is expected of Congress to succumb to the pressure put on by former Chief Minister Veerabhadra Singh's wife Pratibha Singh and son Vikramaditya Singh, who want the party to nip off Sukhu from power.

Congress will deliberate ways to stay in power and will consider assigning the chief minister laurel to Pratibha Singh. On Wednesday, the assembly speaker suspended 15 BJP MLAs and comfortably passed the state budget session. The crack within the government first came to the surface after six MLAs of Congress cross-voted for BJP in the recently held Rajya Sabha elections.

On Wednesday morning, Vikramaditya Singh relinquished his post as a minister piqued by Sukhu’s listless leadership. However, the CM rejected the resignation which made Vikramaditya withdraw his resignation. Singh claimed the government was formed after campaigning in the name of Veerabhadra Singh, but after being sworn into power, the congress government never even considered allowing a statute in honour of the former CM.

The party's crisis managers include the Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka DK Shivakumar, former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Head of State Rajiv Shukla. Efforts are being made to resolve the conflict.

A report will be submitted to the chairman of AICC which will also include the opinion of MLAs. An absolute majority in the sixty-eight-member House requires the support of 35 members. Congress itself has 40 members. Out of them, six people cross-voted for BJP. Three independent members have also shown allegiance towards BJP which has left the Congress government sweating.