With bypolls, Himachal ‘turncoats’ now face the people’s court

The Congress-ruled State of Himachal Pradesh saw political turbulence, a few months ago with six of its MLAs turning rebels. With all of them now contesting as candidates of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the bye-elections on six Assembly seats, a strong sentiment among the people surrounding “betrayal by turncoats” appears to have gripped the political narrative in the hill State, which will also witness the Parliamentary election on June 1.

The stage is all set for a direct fight between the ruling Congress and the BJP for the upcoming bye-elections. These bye-elections were necessitated after the six Assembly seats - Dharamshala, Sujanpur, Lahaul-Spiti, Barsar, Gagret, and Kutlehar - fell vacant following the disqualification of the Congress MLAs from the State legislative Assembly for defying a party whip in February this year. Later, all these six Congress rebels joined the BJP and are now contesting as BJP candidates in the bye-elections. They were all elected as Congress MLAs in the 2022 Assembly election.

In Kutlehar’s Panoh village, Rakesh Kumar, who runs a welding shop on the busy Una-Amb stretch, says he has been hurt by the behaviour of the legislators who betrayed their party and the people. “Davinder Bhutto won on the Congress ticket from here [Kutlehar] in 2022, and later he joined the BJP. And now he is contesting as the BJP candidate. This is complete betrayal of the people’s vote, besides disloyalty to their mother party,” he said while awaiting customers amid soaring mercury even as the campaigning hit top gear in the constituencies.

“It’s not just me, many in my village feel that way. In Himachal, which is called ‘Dev Bhoomi’, the majority of people are god-fearing, and the action of betrayal of any kind is considered nothing short of a sin. I am sure they will suffer politically in this bye-election,” he adds.

At the main market in Jhalera, a grocery shop owner, who doesn’t want to reveal his name, expresses similar sentiments. “It was wrong on the part of Congress MLAs to switch the party, and now contesting on the BJP ticket has sent a bad message. People voted and elected them in 2022 for a term of five years, who gave them the authority to quit only after a year or so?” he quipped.

Himachal Assembly bye-election: BJP fields all six former Congress MLAs who cross-voted in its favour in RS poll

Earlier this year, the State saw political turbulence as cracks in the Congress’s State unit came to the fore during the Rajya Sabha election, resulting in the defeat of official Congress candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi due to cross-voting by six MLAs of the ruling party.

As intense electoral campaigning is under way, addressing a gathering at Bangana, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu asserts that the people of the State have elected the present Congress government and it will complete its tenure. Hitting out the “turncoats”, he said, “Some Congress MLAs sold their souls. They all played with the sentiments of the people of the State and won’t be spared even by the Almighty. They were not alone, the BJP was also behind them as it attempted to destabilise and topple the Congress as their hunger for power has increased, and since the BJP could not form the government in the State based on votes, they have been attempting to grab the chair through money power,” Mr. Sukhu said.

A few kilometres away from the rally spot, Karan Kumar, who is a manager at a local restaurant, is annoyed with re-elections and says, “They [ex-Congress MLAs] have caused a breach of trust. Because of their actions, the elections are happening again, the financial burden will eventually be borne by taxpayers. There should be a provision that in such a situation, these legislators should be penalised.”

Congress and BJP set to battle it out in Himachal’s Assembly bypolls

In the adjoining Barsar Assembly constituency, Mahender Singh, a retired Subedar from the Army, and a few elderly people are enjoying their evening tea at the local stall at Bhakreri, discussing the political scenario. “I am not sure who going to win or lose, but a majority of us believe that what Congress MLAs did was not ethical. Contesting on one party’s symbol and then later leaving them to join and contest from another party is not acceptable,” he said as a couple of others in the group nodded their heads in sync.

The former Congress MLAs, meanwhile, have been blaming the Chief Minister for the entire episode, alleging that they felt “suffocated and humiliated” in the government as he preferred his friends over all others and the circle of friends was dominating the MLAs. They have also alleged that corruption in government wings was taking place under the Chief Minister but he turned a blind eye to it.

The ex-Congress MLAs include Rajinder Rana, Sudhir Sharma, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Ravi Thakur, Chaitanya Sharma, and Davinder Bhutto.