Himachal crisis: Congress issues ‘accountability’ warning, sends DK Shivakumar

Shimla: The Congress has asked Karnataka deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar, renowned as the party's main trouble-shooter, to help it tide over the political crisis in Himachal Pradesh. A day after the Congress embarrassingly lost the Himachal Pradesh's lone Rajya Sabha seat despite having a comfortable majority in the state assembly, the Bharatiya Janata Party today claimed that several MLAs of the ruling party are in touch and that it will soon form a government. Himachal CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has vowed to prove his government's majority in the House.

"Neither has anyone asked for my resignation nor have I given my resignation to anyone. We will prove the majority. We will win, the people of Himachal will win," he said.

Here are the top updates of the Himachal Pradesh political crisis:

1. Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said the BJP is trying to spread rumours of his resignation as it wants Congress MLAs to join them. "The Congress is united...Some of the MLAs who voted for BJP are in our contact," he added.
2. Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh, meanwhile, said the leadership will fix accountability of how the MLAs were allowed to cross-vote. "Accountability will definitely be fixed. Accountability was fixed in Haryana...There are two parts of this report - first, why did the cross-voting happen here and how was it allowed to happen. Second, what steps should be taken to save the government and uphold the mandate? When the report comes, discussions will be held and decision will be made. Until then, all reports and speculations are baseless," he said.
3. Vikramaditya Singh, Congress MLA and the son of late former CM Virbhadra Singh, has resigned as the minister in the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu government. He said the MLAs' voices were being stifled in the Himachal Pradesh government. "I have always respected the leadership and the CM and contributed toward running the government with due discipline…There were from some quarters attempts to humiliate me in my functioning as a cabinet minister… I respect the CM but there has to be coordination among the council of ministers…This is a breach of trust, something that has led to where we are standing today,” he said.
4. Vikramaditya Singh, who attended the Ayodhya event in January in violation of the Congress party's official line, today said he is emotionally hurt with the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu government. "Someone who was the CM of the state for six times, due to whom this government was formed in the state – they could not find a small space for his statue at Mall Road. This is the respect this government has shown to my late father. We are emotional people, we have nothing to do with posts...But this is very unfortunate...I am very hurt, not politically but emotionally.
5. The BJP is expected to call a trust vote soon. Meanwhile, on Wednesday morning, the Himachal Pradesh assembly's speaker suspended 15 BJP MLAs for allegedly shouting slogans and misconduct. The suspended MLAs include: Jairam Thakur, Vipin Singh Parmar, Randheer Sharma, Lokender Kumar, Vinod Kumar, Hans Raj, Janak Raj, Balbir Verma, Trilok Jamwal, Surender Shori, Deep Raj, Puran Thakur, Inder Singh Gandhi, Dileep Thakur and Inder Singh Gandhi.
6. The BJP legislature party met with Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla. "We have informed the Governor about what happened in the assembly...In the assembly, when we demanded division of vote during the financial bill, it was not allowed and the House was adjourned twice. The way marshals behaved with our MLAs was not right. We have a doubt that the Vidhan Sabha speaker can suspend BJP MLAs and some MLAs of the Congress who voted for the BJP in the Rajya Sabha elections, can also be suspended. Currently, the Congress government has lost the right to stay in power," said former CM Jairam Thakur.
7. Meanwhile, Harsh Mahajan, the BJP leader who defeated Congress stalwart Abhishek Manu Singhvi in the Rajya Sabha election on Tuesday, said the BJP will form a government in the state. He claimed several Congress MLAs are in touch with the BJP. "The BJP is going to form its government in the state. Some more MLAs of Congress are in touch with us. I got phone calls from some of their MLAs and ministers...The situation is going to change in the next few hours and you will see the BJP will form its government soon...For the next 10-20 years, the Congress is not going to come to power here," he told ANI.
8. DK Shivakumar on Wednesday confirmed that the Congress leadership has asked him to visit Himachal Pradesh. "The Congress party has issued a direction that I should be there. I don't know why BJP is in such a hurry. This type of horse-trading, someday it might boomerang...I am confident that all our legislators will be loyal to the party," he said.
9. Reacting to the developments, Congress MP Pramod Tiwari claimed the BJP uses money and machinery to force MLAs to cross-vote. "Ever since the BJP came to power, the misuse of money and machinery is taking place... agencies are questioning as if BJP is their frontal organization. Due to all this, cross-voting has begun and the switching of parties has started. This is nothing new. It is unfortunate that we could not make a renowned candidate Abhishek Singhvi win the election, we are disheartened. Two of our senior leaders have gone there, I am confident that they will probe into the situation and get all the reports on the spot and give it to the high command," he said.
10. Union minister and BJP leader Anurag Thakur claimed Himachal MLAs had been facing questions of the masses. "The Congress formed a government in Himachal Pradesh by giving big and fake promises. After the formation of the government, none of those promises were fulfilled. People used to ask questions when Congress MLAs went to their constituencies...they had no answers to give...no work was done. Why did Congress MLAs abandon their own party within 14 months, what was the compulsion? One of the reasons is that they gave ticket to a non-Himachali person," he said.
11. Meanwhile, six Congress MLAs, who voted for BJP in the Rajya Sabha polls, today left for Haryana. The MLAs, including Rajinder Rana and Ravi Thakur, spent the night in a hotel in Panchkula. They reportedly left for an undisclosed location in a chopper. The MLAs were apparently upset with Sukhu's style of functioning.
12. The Congress has 40 MLAs in the Himachal assembly; the BJP has 25. The remaining three seats are held by independents.

With inputs from PTI, ANI