“The ship is drowning…” BJP’s Vipin Singh Parmar amid political turmoil in Himachal

Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) [India], March 2 (ANI): Amid the ongoing political turmoil in Himachal Pradesh, Bharataiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Vipin Singh Parmar on Saturday took a swipe at the ruling Congress saying that the ‘instability in the state government is growing day by day.

Addressing a press conference here, the BJP MLA took a dig at the Congress, saying that the ‘ship is drowning and it could not be saved’ even after party’s several efforts.

“…Party legislators are called every day, they have been told that they will be made chairperson. Several such attempts are made by CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu. The ship is drowning, I don’t think that it could be saved. The instability is growing day by day. The party workers are creating a ruckus now, I wish to ask who is responsible for that? I request state CM to take stock of the situation as he will be responsible at the end of the day…” Vipin Singh Parmar said.

Cross-voting by six Himachal Pradesh’s Congress MLAs for the lone Rajya Sabha seat and the resignation of Vikramaditya Singh from the council of ministers have deepened the crisis for Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led Congress government in the hill state.

The two back-to-back events have once again brought to the fore the rift between the Congress and the BJP, which claims to have a majority in the House.

The six MLAs who have been disqualified after they cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha polls are Sudhir Sharma, Rajinder Rana, Davinder K Bhutto, Ravi Thakur, Chaitanya Sharma and Inder Dutt Lakhanpal.

The cross-voting led to a surprise win by the BJP’s candidate, Harsh Mahajan, in the Rajya Sabha from Himachal Pradesh.

Meanwhile, Vikramaditya Singh, who on Wednesday took back his resignation as a minister in the state, continues to keep the Congress top brass guessing.

After the 2022 Assembly elections, the Congress had 40 MLAs, while the BJP had 25 in the 68-member state assembly. The remaining three seats are held by independents.

With the six rebel MLAs disqualified, the strength of the house comes down from 68 to 62, and the halfway mark is 32. With the loss of 6 MLAs the Congress now has 34 MLAs and the BJP, with independents, has 28. The fortunes of the Congress will now rest on its ability to keep the rest of its flock together.