To prevent Himachal crisis rerun, Congress sets up a six-member committee

In the aftermath of the political crisis that engulfed the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh during last month’s Rajya Sabha elections, the party’s high command on Sunday formed a six-member coordination committee to ensure such an episode is not repeated.

The panel comprises Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, state Congress president Pratibha Singh, Deputy CM Mukesh Agnihotri, Health Minister Dhani Ram Shandil, former minister Kaul Singh Thakur, and sitting MLA Ram Lal Thakur. The committee’s role will be to facilitate communication between the state government and the party organisation, something Pratibha and others had alleged was missing.

“Congress president has approved the proposal to constitute a coordination committee for better coordination between the government and organisation in Himachal Pradesh, with immediate effect,” states the notice.

Last month, the BJP pulled off an upset by defeating the Congress’s Abhishek Manu Singhvi in the election for the state’s lone Rajya Sabha seat because of cross-voting by six of its party’s MLAs. The Congress failed to get Singhvi elected even though it had 40 MLAs in the 68-member House while the BJP had 25 MLAs. The Congress also banked on the support of three Independent legislators but they too ended up voting for the BJP’s Harsh Mahajan.

The BJP then called on the Sukhu government to step down, saying it had “lost the mandate and trust”. But the CM remained in office and managed to pass the state Budget shortly after despite the party’s reduced strength in the Assembly. The six rebel MLAs were disqualified from the House and 15 BJP MLAs were suspended during the Budget Session.

As the crisis deepened, Cabinet Minister Vikramaditya Singh, Pratibha’s son, resigned