After the six Congress MLAs switched sides to the BJP in Himachal Pradesh, Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu on Monday said that all the defecting MLAs will be behind bars soon.

While addressing an election rally in Shimla Sukhu said that the government will run for three and a half more years, and will repeat in 2027. He said that after June 1 the people of the state will teach a lesson to the “corrupt people”.

The left-wing CPI(M) leaders also shared a stage with Congress in Shimla during the election rally in Shimla which was held in favour of the Congress candidate after nomination.

The Congress Party candidate from the Shimla parliamentary seat Vinod Sultanpuri filed nomination papers in the presence of CM Sukhu today.

After this, while addressing the public meeting at Chaura maidan, the Chief Minister launched a fierce attack on the rebel legislators who had rebelled against the Congress and joined the BJP.

Addressing the public meeting, Mr Sukhu said that six tainted leaders of the Congress Party were sold out by money power and rebelled against the party. Sukhu said that after presenting the budget 2024-25, all the tainted leaders praised the government, but when they were allured by the BJP with money, they were sold in the political market and ran away to Panchkula to get the second instalment.

“Congress has the power of the people. This fight is not to save the government or the post of Chief Minister, but to teach a lesson to those corrupt people and also to save the constitution and democracy. BJP leaders had conspired to topple the government through money and this election will decide the future politics,” he added.

Chief Minister Sukhu said that the people of Himachal Pradesh will give a befitting reply to the politics of horse trading by defeating the BJP in these elections and setting an example for the entire country.

He said that the BJP has stolen one Rajya Sabha seat, but the people of the state will give all four Lok Sabha seats to Congress. “All these corrupt people will be put behind bars. Sukhu Sarkar will run for three and a half more years. After this, part two of the government will be repeated in the year 2027,” he added.

Elections to four Lok Sabha seats in Himachal Pradesh along with assembly by-polls, following the disqualification of six rebel Congress MLAs, will be held on June 1 in the last phase of polling.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Post Congress fiasco, the grand old party formed a six-member coordination committee for better coordination between the government and the organization in Himachal Pradesh.

According to an official release, the committee include Himachal CM Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, state party president Pratibha Singh, Deputy CM Mukesh Agnihotri, Congress leader Kaul Singh Thakur, Dhaniram Shandil and Ram Lal Thakur.

“Congress President has approved the proposal to constitute a coordination committee as follows for better coordination between the government and the Organisation in Himachal Pradesh, with immediate effect,” the statement said.

Earlier on Saturday, a total of 11 MLAs from Himachal Pradesh arrived in BJP-ruled Uttarakhand amid the turmoil within the Congress party in the state, whose government is led by CM Sukhu.

A bus with Haryana’s number plate arrived in Rishikesh’s Taj Hotel and the 11 MLAs, including six rebel Congress MLAs and three independent MLAs, were seen entering the hotel under a heavy security cover.

Sukhu, while speaking to reporters on Friday in Palampur said, “Some MLAs are sad. They have been kept under CRPF security. Is this how democracy will remain strong? Horsetrading weakens the democracy.”

“I have just come to know through social media that they (rebel MLAs) were taken away from the hotel in Panchkula and a charter plane flew from Chandigarh airport. I don’t know where it will land. This is because their family members were putting pressure on them to return,” Sukhu said.

After they abstained from voting on the budget following their cross voting in last month’s Rajya Sabha polls against party candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, six Congress members were disqualified by Himachal assembly speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania.

Pathania had said that the six MLAs, who contested on Congress symbol, attracted provisions of anti-defection law against themselves.

Those who voted for the BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan in the Rajya Sabha polls include Congress MLAs Rajinder Rana, Sudhir Sharma, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Devinder Kumar Bhutoo, Ravi Thakur and Chetanya Sharma and three independent legislators- Hoshyar Singh, K L Thakur and Ashish Sharma.

The 11 MLAs landed at Jolly Grant Airport in Dehradun on Friday at around 2:40 PM, from where they left in a car towards the hotel in Rishikesh.

The development comes two days after chief minister Sukhu was in Delhi to meet the Congress top brass. According to information, the Chief Minister was in the national capital to meet the Congress High Command and give a report about the current political situation in the state.

Asked about the possible return of the rebel MLAs to the Congress party, Sukhu said on Thursday, “If one realises one’s fault then that person deserves another chance.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Shimla:

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu has demanded the Union government to declare the disaster in Himachal as a national disaster. Chief Minister Sukhu said that he had put forth this demand with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the G20 dinner. He also demanded a special package for the state.

“The state government is continuously demanding the central government that the disaster here should be declared a national disaster. Also, the Central Government should give a special relief package to Himachal, but till now both demands have been ignored,” Chief Minister Sukhu said.

The Chief Minister said that he will give appropriate answers to every question of the opposition in the monsoon session of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly.

Chief Minister Sukhu expressed his gratitude to Priyanka Gandhi for her visit to the state. He said that Priyanka Gandhi took time out from her busy schedule to come to Himachal and meet the disaster-affected people.

The Chief Minister said that Priyanka Gandhi’s “eyes were filled with tears” after meeting the disaster-affected people at many places.

He said that there has been huge devastation in the state due to heavy rain and flood. He said that the government is making changes in the manual to provide relief to the disaster affected.

Recently, the state government has asked to pay the house rent to the people who lost their houses. In this, every month Rs 5,000 in rural areas and Rs 10,000 in urban areas will be provided by the government till 31 March 2024, he said.

He said that many people lost their land in the disaster. Now such people have land in the revenue records, but the place at ground zero is not suitable for living. The government will also make changes in such rules and will work to provide relief to the disaster-affected, he added.

The Chief Minister said that he has instructed all the District Deputy Commissioners to ensure that relief is provided to the disaster-affected people and no one is left wanting.

He said that recently the matter of reducing import duty on Washington Apple has come to light. This will have a negative impact on all the gardeners of Himachal Pradesh, he said.

He said that the state government would also provide land and change the rules to provide disaster manual help to the affected people.

“The farmers who have lost cattle herds and crops will also be helped and all deputy Commissioners have also been directed to announce the disaster affected areas,” he added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)