The Congress said on Wednesday that the BJP cannot remove the mandate of the people of Himachal Pradesh through its “Operation Lotus,” adding that the party will not hesitate to take difficult decisions should they become necessary, even though the Congress government in the state is in danger of collapsing. The party president Mallikarjun Kharge has sent three observers—DK Shivakumar, Bhupesh Baghel, and Bhupinder Singh Hooda—to Shimla, according to Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, who was speaking to reporters in New Delhi today. He has asked the observers, along with AICC state chairman Rajeev Shukla, to speak with all MLAs, including the disgruntled ones, and to provide him with a thorough report as soon as possible.
The state’s cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha election will also have consequences, according to the Congress leader. Ramesh declared, “The party is supreme, therefore individual interests are not important.” He also said that the will of the people must be honored. Ramesh referred to the cross-voting as “unfortunate” and stated that the party observers would discuss this in their report.
However, since the party received a clear mandate in December 2022, our immediate focus is on defending our Congress government. Anurag Thakur, Jairam Thakur, Jagat Prakash Nadda, and the Prime Minister were all vehemently rejected by the people of Himachal Pradesh. The Congress party was clearly in favor of the mandate. As such, it is essential that this directive be followed. Overthrowing every government led by the Congress seems to be the only goal of the Modi administration. We’re committed to stopping these kinds of things.
#WATCH | Himachal Pradesh political crisis | Congress General Secretary in-charge Communications Jairam Ramesh says, “…Cross-voting is unfortunate. Our Observers will discuss this in their report. But right now our priority is to save our Congress government because the… pic.twitter.com/wIgt3YX79W
— ANI (@ANI) February 28, 2024
Six Congress MLAs reportedly expressed their dissatisfaction with Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s working style by voting in favor of BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan in the state’s Rajya Sabha election on Tuesday, sparking the political crisis in Himachal Pradesh. As a result, Congress veteran Abhishek Singhvi lost.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, general secretary of the Congress, added that the people have the freedom to select the government of their choice in a democracy. She said that the people of Himachal Pradesh made use of this privilege and overwhelmingly elected the Congress party to power.
“But BJP wants to crush this right of the people of Himachal by misusing the money power, power of agencies and power of the Centre. The way BJP is using government security and machinery for this purpose is unprecedented in the history of the country,” Gandhi said on X.
“It is obvious that a party dependent on representative horse trading if a party with 25 MLAs is contesting the majority of 43 MLAs. Their attitude is unconstitutional and unethical. The nation’s and Himachal Pradesh’s citizens are keeping an eye on everything. She said in a Hindi post, “The BJP wants to push the state into political disaster because it did not stand with the people of the state during the natural disaster.
Concurrently, Shivakumar, one of the three observers in the hill state, claimed in a post on X that the BJP’s strategies are “worrisome” for democracy.
