Congress Forms 6-Member Panel For Coordination With Himachal Government

Post Congress fiasco, the grand old party formed a six-member coordination committee for better coordination between the government and the organization in Himachal Pradesh.

According to an official release, the committee include Himachal CM Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, state party president Pratibha Singh, Deputy CM Mukesh Agnihotri, Congress leader Kaul Singh Thakur, Dhaniram Shandil and Ram Lal Thakur.

"Congress President has approved the proposal to constitute a coordination committee as follows for better coordination between the government and the Organisation in Himachal Pradesh, with immediate effect," the statement said.

Earlier on Saturday, a total of 11 MLAs from Himachal Pradesh arrived in BJP-ruled Uttarakhand amid the turmoil within the Congress party in the state, whose government is led by CM Sukhu.

A bus with Haryana's number plate arrived in Rishikesh's Taj Hotel and the 11 MLAs, including six rebel Congress MLAs and three independent MLAs, were seen entering the hotel under a heavy security cover.

Sukhu, while speaking to reporters on Friday in Palampur said, "Some MLAs are sad. They have been kept under CRPF security. Is this how democracy will remain strong? Horsetrading weakens the democracy."

"I have just come to know through social media that they (rebel MLAs) were taken away from the hotel in Panchkula and a charter plane flew from Chandigarh airport. I don't know where it will land. This is because their family members were putting pressure on them to return," Sukhu said.

After they abstained from voting on the budget following their cross voting in last month's Rajya Sabha polls against party candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, six Congress members were disqualified by Himachal assembly speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania.

Pathania had said that the six MLAs, who contested on Congress symbol, attracted provisions of anti-defection law against themselves.

Those who voted for the BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan in the Rajya Sabha polls include Congress MLAs Rajinder Rana, Sudhir Sharma, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Devinder Kumar Bhutoo, Ravi Thakur and Chetanya Sharma and three independent legislators- Hoshyar Singh, K L Thakur and Ashish Sharma.

The 11 MLAs landed at Jolly Grant Airport in Dehradun on Friday at around 2:40 PM, from where they left in a car towards the hotel in Rishikesh.

The development comes two days after chief minister Sukhu was in Delhi to meet the Congress top brass. According to information, the Chief Minister was in the national capital to meet the Congress High Command and give a report about the current political situation in the state.

Asked about the possible return of the rebel MLAs to the Congress party, Sukhu said on Thursday, "If one realises one's fault then that person deserves another chance."

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)