Himachal Pradesh: Sukhu govt survives for now, but stays on edge

Chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led beleaguered Congress government of Himachal Pradesh has survived BJP's toppling bid for now after messing up its Rajya Sabha poll strategy. But it will continue to be on the edge with a reduced effective majority of one.

The pressure was evident as the Congress high command bent to humour Pratibha Singh-Vikramaditya Singh camp, which had openly taken on the CM, by agreeing to address their pending demands and grievances through steps such as setting up a six-member party-government coordination panel to rework power-sharing arrangements and Cabinet/portfolio rejig.

AICC observers said 'CM has accepted that some failures happened' during RS polls and laid stress on united work. Sukhu continues to be CM but faces question mark on the longevity of his post and the government amid factions, distrusts, number crunch and BJP's toppling bid.


Although some of their MLAs are now disqualified, the Pratibha-Vikramaditya campers are hopeful of getting more berths and the beginning of the process to construct a long-awaited memorial for former CM Virbhadra Singh.

After Congress' high-profile crisis-management efforts failed to pressure or persuade the six rebel MLAs, or at least a section of them, to get 'back home', the state government was forced to deploy the last resort of getting those who cross-voted disqualified from the assembly by the Speaker on the grounds of not voting for the finance bill.

While disqualification has provided government breather, it has also brought down Congress strength from 40 MLAs to 34 and the assembly's from 68 to 62, making 32 the majority mark. This makes Congress' effective strength 33 (as one will be Speaker) from the earlier majority of 5 on its own. The party has also lost the support of three Independent MLAs, who had voted for BJP in RS polls.

The messy episode also advertised the perils of the central leadership choosing to ignore and insult the entrenched Himachal Congress players and local sentiment in the RS poll.

After a long and rancorous peace talks involving Sukhu, PCC chief Pratibha Singh, Vikramaditya, AICC representatives and others, a joint press conference of AICC observers, Sukhu and Pratibha Singh was held to make public the nascent truce-formula. They said another round of talks will happen soon.

Before the 'breakfast meeting' for peace talks, Pratibha said: "When it (rebellion) is simmering for more than a year and you take no cognisance, then it is natural for them to be upset. Had you sat with them, talked to them and found out a solution, this situation would not have occurred."