Sources said the leaders will join AICC in-charge Rajeev Shukla in holding talks with the MLAs. Besides the six who cross-voted, other key legislators have raised the demand for removal of CM Sukhwinder Sukhu, miffed as they are with his functioning.
While the leadership was repeatedly made aware of Sukhu's confrontationist style and his inability to take the MLAs along, inaction on their part is said to have created the crisis. The CM till Tuesday morning was said to have been confident that all 40 party MLAs and three independents will vote for party candidate Abhishek Singhvi. This was despite supporters of party leader Anand Sharma, who was overlooked for the RS berth in his home state, having urged the party to nominate him and were said to have been angry.
Tuesday's voting was a terrible blow to the party that has been trying hard to reverse the stream of bad news triggered by BJP's clean sweep in the Hindi belt in the Dec elections. That it comes just ahead of the announcement of the Lok Sabha elections makes the jolt that even more debilitating.
The mismanagement and failure to spot BJP's gameplan in Himachal Pradesh exposed the increasingly weakening Congress oversight of states. Defections from state units have continued unabated. While two MLAs & office-bearers joined BJP in Assam last month, two MLAs in Bihar and an RS MP from Gujarat crossed over to BJP on Tuesday.
The threat to a state govt arising from RS vote was a self-inflicted damage. While nomination of an "outsider" in Singhvi had triggered unease, there had also been alarming feedback about CM Sukhu's functioning having alienated some legislators. However, the party decided against changing the status quo reckoning it could compound the problems before Lok Sabha elections. That it could trigger a crisis in the RS polls was not anticipated despite adverse reports.
Many in the party now hope the Himachal govt can survive only because while voting in RS polls does not invite disqualification, an MLA is bound by party whip in voting in assembly. But Congress remains terribly vulnerable.
