Congress Removes Rebel Himachal MLA Sudhir Sharma From National Secretary Post

Congress removed HP MLA Sudhir Sharma from his National Secretary post on Wednesday. He was one of the rebels who cross-voted in Rajya Sabha elections.

Congress expelled Himachal MLA Sudhir Sharma from his post as AICC Secretary.

Source : x/@sudhirhp

Congress on Wednesday removed its rebel Himachal MLA Sudhir Sharma as the All India Congress Committee Secretary with immediate effect after the party faced a humiliating defeat due to cross-voting in the recently held Rajya Sabha elections.

Sudhir Sharma was one of the six rebel MLAs who cross-voted for the BJP, handing over victor to the BJP even as the party lacked numbers and the Congress expected smooth sailing. 

The six Congress MLAs were disqualified after which they moved the Supreme Court on Tuesday, filing a plea against the state's Legislative Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania's decision. The speaker had disqualified the MLAs under the Anti-Defecation Law for abstaining from voting on the budget in the Assembly.

The MLAs who were disqualified for cross-voting were Sudhir Sharma, Ravi Thakur, Chaitanya Sharma, Davinder K Bhutto, Rajinder Rana, and Inder Dutt Lakhanpal. Subsequently, the strength of the 68-member state assembly has now come down to 62.

Their disqualification was demanded by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Harshwardhan, who had filed a plea for the same before the speaker.

Congress was left in another crisis which was brought upon by its party members as it lost even though it had a clear majority with 40 out of 68 MLAs and support from three independent MLAs. The cross-voting led the contest to tie at 34-34.

Thereafter, Congress's Abhishek Manu Singhvi was defeated by BJP's Harsh Mahajan who claimed the lone Rajya Sabha seat after the latter was chosen as the winner on a lottery method.

Last week, Congress MP Digvijay Singh commented on the row saying that action would be taken against the rebels at the right time.