In an exclusive interview with India Today TV, Himachal Pradesh Congress chief Pratibha Singh said it was “too early to say that the crisis is over”.
Himachal Pradesh Congress chief Pratibha Singh told India Today TV that even if the party has managed to save its government in the state, it was “too early to say that the crisis is over”.
In an exclusive interview with India Today TV, Pratibha Singh said, “I don’t know what will happen tomorrow or in the coming future… There were certain issues which could not be decided within a few hours or within a day. It will take time. And then only I can, if we are in a comfortable position, say that the government will last (five years).”
While there were reports that Vikramaditya Singh would join the BJP and stake claim to the post of chief minister, he later backtracked, saying he wouldn’t press his resignation until a dialogue with party leaders was not completed.
The Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led government faced a mini-crisis after six of its MLAs, along with three Independents, cross-voted in favour of the BJP in the February 27 Rajya Sabha elections.
The Congress managed to defeat the rebellion after the six MLAs were suspended from Assembly by the Speaker and the government passed its budget.
‘NO FACTIONALISM’
Pratibha Singh said her son offered his resignation not because he wanted the chief minister’s post but to raise public’s issues.
“Did he talk about the chief ministership? Definitely not. His issues were entirely different. He talked about the youth, he talked about the development, he talked about the installation of Virbhadra Singh’s statue on the ridge. That was the issue of concern. That is not only our concern, it is the entire Himachal Pradesh who is looking towards the government for doing these little things,” Pratibha Singh said.
“We had promised the youth that we will give you some jobs, some placement in the government, which we have not been able to do. And now Lok Sabha elections are around the corner, we have to go to the people. So we are also answerable. That was the concern,” she added.
Pratibha Singh also denied that she leads a rival faction within the state Congress, affirming “we all are the same group”.