New Delhi: In a significant turn of events in Himachal Pradesh politics, four out of the six Congress MLAs who cross-voted in favor of the BJP during the recent Rajya Sabha polls hail from Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu's home turf. These MLAs represent assembly segments within the Hamirpur parliamentary constituency, which is also the Chief Minister's own electoral base. Additionally, one of the three independent MLAs who supported the BJP's candidate also belongs to the Hamirpur district.
According to news agency PTI, these nine MLAs, comprising six from the Congress party and three independents, triggered a crisis by aligning themselves with the BJP. The rebellion, spearheaded by Congress dissident Rajinder Rana and three others, along with an independent from the Hamirpur parliamentary constituency, indicates that Sukhu failed to gauge the level of resentment among the legislators in his home district, PTI reported.
Notably, out of the nine MLAs who backed BJP's nominee Mahajan in the Rajya Sabha elections on August 27, five hail from the Hamirpur parliamentary constituency, with three specifically representing constituencies within the Hamirpur district.
Congress MLAs Rajinder Rana and Inder Dutt Lakhanpal represent the Sujanpur and Barsar assembly segments, respectively, within Himachal Pradesh. Independent MLA Ashish Sharma hails from the Hamirpur assembly seat in Hamirpur district. Additionally, Congress MLAs Chetanya Sharma and Devinder Kumar Bhutto were elected from Gagret and Chintpurni (SC) constituencies, respectively, in the adjoining Una district, which is also part of the Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat, as per PTI.
Hamirpur Once A BJP Stronghold
Hamirpur was viewed as a stronghold of the BJP, but Rajinder Rana reshaped the political narrative by not only securing a victory over BJP stalwart and two-time chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal in the 2017 assembly polls but also played a pivotal role in orchestrating a scenario that led to the BJP's significant setback in the district during the 2022 assembly polls.
After the formation of the Congress government, the party MLAs and workers were hoping that they would be respected and rewarded. Rana openly said instead of getting rewards and respect, he faced humiliation.
Rana further said that despite his efforts to communicate his concerns and grievances to the Chief Minister, no corrective action was taken. He stated that he had apprised the Chief Minister of his resentment and issues, and had also informed the state Congress chief Pratibha Singh, but unfortunately, no action was taken to address his concerns, reported PTI.
Pratibha Singh has been vocal about the failure to address the grievances of the disgruntled MLAs and ministers, suggesting that had these issues been resolved, the current crisis could have been averted. Political analysts are blaming both the state and central leadership of the party.
Ashish Sharma, who was elected as an independent MLA, along with two other independent MLAs, initially extended support to the Sukhu government and even attended the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting held on the eve of the Rajya Sabha elections. However, despite this apparent alignment with the Congress, they ultimately voted in favor of the BJP candidate.