Himachal Pradesh: War of words intensifies between CM and rebel MLAs

SHIMLA: Amid ongoing political turmoil in Himachal Pradesh, the war of words between the chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, and the 6 disqualified Congress MLAs along with 3 independent MLAs is continuing.

Sukhu said that some people have become addicted to power and as a result have betrayed the mandate of the people by resorting to evil attempts to topple the state government while the 9 rebel MLAs have retaliated by saying that the government, gasping on a ventilator, is not going to get any oxygen by filing false cases against the MLAs and their families because the people of the state have also understood very well that the chief minister will resort to such tactics to put pressure on the MLAs to compromise, which according to them is against the spirit of democracy.

The chief minister, while addressing a public gathering at Indora in Kangra district on Monday, said that the unscrupulous move of few to topple the democratically elected government won't be successful. "I am facing all the challenges to carry the state ahead on the path of progress. I have faced many such challenges even before in my long political career and have witnessed that when one works for the welfare of the people, it is always reciprocated in the form of love and support and none of the evil designs succeed to demoralize a person" Sukhu said.

He said that the public will never forget and forgive the attempts of the BJP to play with the democracy by 'Dhan-Bal' (money power). He said that the six rebel disqualified Congress MLAs were being escorted by the central security agencies in the hideouts in different regions and won't be able to face the people of their constituencies. He said that they have now been shifted from a five-star hotel of Panchkula to Rishikesh on the bank of River Ganges to wipe out their sins.

Sukhu said that their actions will be remembered as a black chapter in the history of the State as they sold their soul for their vested interests.

The six disqualified Congress MLAs including Rajinder Rana, Sudhir Sharma, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Ravi Thakur, Devendra Bhutto and Chaitanya Sharma along with three independent MLAs including Hoshyar Singh, Ashish Sharma and K L Thakur in a joint statement issued on Monday launched a sharp counterattack on the Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu.

These rebel leaders said that earlier the Chief Minister was running his dictatorship internally and now his dictatorial face has been exposed in front of the public. They said that Sukhu’s nervousness has also increased after the mask came off his face. “What does the Chief Minister want to prove by raiding the houses of MLAs and their relatives without concrete evidence?” they asked, adding that in this fight for self-respect, all the 9 MLAs are not going to step back and this fight will be taken to the logical end.

These rebel MLAs said that false cases are being filed not only against the MLAs but also against the people of the areas from where they have been elected. They said that the government is trying to humiliate them by running its repression cycle, to which the public will respond appropriately. They said that the Chief Minister is calling them a traitor but the people of the state know very well who is the real culprit who cheated the public by making false announcements.

They said that people did not elect MLAs to see them being humiliated and after the formation of the government in the state, their assembly constituencies were being given step motherly treatment and they were also being humiliated. These leaders said in clear words that those who, under the pressure of the Chief Minister, are filing false complaints in the police without any evidence and the officers who are doing this out of over-enthusiasm, they should understand that when these complaints are found to be false in the court, if they go then they will have to be prepared to face those things also.


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