Himachal Pradesh: Congress workers stage protest against six rebel MLAs

The party workers burned the effigies of all the rebel MLAs on Thursday, but the supporters of the rebel MLA from Dharamshala, Sudhir Sharma, came face-to-face with the protestors.

Consequently, a scuffle broke out between both sides, prompting police to jump in.

The police''s timely intervention pacified both sides.

Notably, the Congress observers appointed to address the crisis in Himachal Pradesh recommended maintaining Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu as Chief Minister till the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, sources said on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Congress observer DK Shivakumar downplayed the crisis in Himachal, saying that the Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu government will stay and all the MLAs want the Congress government for 5 years, adding that a six-member coordination committee is being set up between the party and the state government so that no political crisis is created in the future.

In a press conference, DK Shivakumar said that all the leaders had taken an oath to work for the party.

"I am very sorry that our senior leader lost in the Rajya Sabha elections. Our CM has accepted that some failures have happened. We have spoken with all the MLAs, CM and PCC chiefs personally. All the differences have been sorted out. They will work together. We are forming a coordination committee between the party and the government of five to six members. The PCC president, CM and Deputy CM will be part of it. All of them have taken an oath that at any point in time, they will all work together to save the party," DK Shivakumar said.

Bhupinder Singh Hooda, the observer appointed for Himachal Pradesh, said that the other three members of the coordination committee will be announced soon from Delhi.

Notably, after the 2022 Assembly elections, the Congress had 40 MLAs, while the BJP had 25 in the 68-member state assembly. The remaining three seats are held by independents. With the six rebel MLAs disqualified, the strength of the House has come down from 68 to 62, and the halfway mark is now 32.

With the loss of six MLAs, the Congress now has 34 MLAs and the BJP, with independents, has 28. The fortunes of the Congress will now rest on its ability to keep the rest of its flock together.

The political crisis in the state was triggered by the Congress losing the Rajya Sabha election on Tuesday despite having a clear majority in the assembly. (ANI)