Fighting for survival, Congress government passes Himachal Budget through voice vote after 15 BJP MLAs suspended

Himachal Pradesh political crisis: Assembly adjourned a day early; Congress moves disqualification notice against six rebel MLAs for being absent during the passage of Budget; party team to find out MLAs’ grievances

The Congress government in Himachal Pradesh managed to survive the immediate threat to its existence on Wednesday, passing the State’s Budget for 2024-25 in the State Assembly after expelling 15 BJP lawmakers, including Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Jairam Thakur.

The Budget Session of the Assembly was adjourned sine die (indefinitely) soon afterwards, a day before it was scheduled to conclude on February 29. Himachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Pathania reserved his order on a disqualification motion against six Congress MLAs who were absent for the vote passing the Budget.

In another twist to the current crisis, State Cabinet Minister Vikramditya Singh announced — and then took back — his resignation, bringing the leadership tussle in the State Congress unit to the fore. Mr. Singh is the son of the former Chief Minister late Virbhadra Singh and Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee chief Pratibha Singh.

He withdrew his resignation within hours, after the party sent out mixed signals. Chief Minister Sukhvinder Sukhu sounded conciliatory, making a “Vikramaditya is like my younger brother” referrence in Shimla; in Delhi, however, the party only said that it was weighing all options. Congress communicatiosn chief Jairam Ramesh asserted that the party would not hesitate to take tough actions to save its government and protect the mandate of the people of Himachal Pradesh.

The State was pushed into political turmoil on Tuesday, when Abhishek Singhvi, the ruling Congress party’s nominee for the State’s sole Rajya Sabha seat lost the election to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Harsh Mahajan after six Congress MLAs voted in favour of the BJP, threatening the survival of their own government.

In damage control mode, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge deputed Bhupesh Baghel, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, and D.K. Shivakumar as the All India Congress Committee’s (AICC) observers, asking them to submit a report after talking to all the party MLAs and finding out their grievances.

Mr. Kharge is also said to have spoken to former party chief Rahul Gandhi and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on the Himachal Pradesh developments.