Himachal CM's home turf becomes centre of rebellion, 4 Congress dissidents from Hamirpur

Shimla: Out of the nine MLAs, including six Congress dissidents and three independents who voted in favour of BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan in the recent Rajya Sabha polls, five are from Hamirpur parliamentary constituency, of which three are from Hamirpur, the home district of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu.

The banner of revolt raised by Congress rebel Rajinder Rana besides three other Congress MLAs and an independent from Hamirpur parliamentary constituency joining him, indicate that Sukhu failed to gauge the level of resentment among the legislators on his home turf.

Out of the nine MLAs who voted in favour of BJP's Mahajan in the Rajya Sabha elections held on August 27, five are from Hamirpur parliamentary constituency, including three from Hamirpur district.

Congress MLAs Rana and Inder Dutt Lakhanpal represent Sujanpur and Barsar assembly segments respectively while Independent MLA Ashish Sharma is from Hamirpur assembly seat in Hamirpur district. Congress MLAs Chetanya Sharma and Devinder Kumar Bhutto were elected from Gagret and Chintpurni (SC) constituencies respectively in the adjoining Una district which is alsoma part of Hamirpur Lok SBha seat.

Hamirpur was considered a stronghold of the BJP but Rana not only set the new political narrative by defeating the BJP stalwart and two-time chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal in 2017 assembly polls but was also instrumental in creating a situation which saw the BJP getting wiped out in the district in 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 no corrective action was taken despite he appraising the chief minister of his resentment and grievances. Even the high command was informed through state Congress chief Pratibha Singh but to no avail, he said.

Pratibha Singh has been repeatedly saying that had the grievances of these disgruntled MLAs and ministers been addressed, the present crisis would not have cropped up. Political analysts are blaming both the state and central leadership of the party.

Ashish Sharma, who was elected as an independent, and two other independent MLAs extended support to the Sukhu government and even attended the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting held on the eve of Rajya Sabha elections. But they voted for the BJP candidate.