Himachal Pradesh: Vikramaditya Singh meets six rebel MLAs, as Congress govt's crisis persists

livemint.com:

Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led Congress government in the hill state is far from over. The report about the meeting in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Haryana’s Panchkula comes a day after Congress party leaders, including the Chief Minister, appeared to have survived the crisis the state government faced.

Singh, who had earlier offered to resignfrom Sukhu's council of ministers, is expected to meet Union minister Nitin Gadkari as per his official schedule, the reports suggested. Also read: Himachal Pradesh Political Crisis: Six rebel Congress MLAs disqualified.

What lies ahead for the hill state? The crisis that the Congress government faced after losing the February 27 Rajya Sabha polls to the BJP brought to the fore the rift between the two factions in Himachal Pradesh Congress - one led by the Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and the other led by Pratibha Singh, the President of Himachal Pradesh Congress and Vikramaditya's mother. On Friday, Pratibha, widow of six-time CM Virbhadra Singh, said that the BJP's work was better than that of the Congress in Himachal Pradesh.

On February 29, Congress party’s observer and Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said that all differences had been ironed out even as the assembly speaker disqualified six rebel Congress legislators for abstaining from voting in the Budget session in the House. Shivakumar also said that a coordination committee would sort out all internal matters and claimed the Congress government would complete its full term in the hill state. Vikramaditya Singh did not turn up for Sukhu’s breakfast meeting on February 19.