Shimla: Should the congress loose in the December elections, would Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, congress president Sonia Gandhi and party incharge for the state RK Dhawan allow chief minister Virbhadra Singh to continue in office till the end of the assembly’s term in March, is what the BJP asked of the congress party today.
At a conference call Satpal Jain, BJP incharge said the chief minister Virbhadra Singh has been claiming that December election result notwithstanding, he would continue in office till the term of present state assembly ends. The Prime Minister, Sonia Gandhi and state incharge RK Dhawan should clarify that whether they would they allow such a situation to arise after loosing the popular mandate, asked Jain.
“Even then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had tendered her resignation immediately after losing the elections and ending the 1977-79 emergency days,” said Jain. Congress is loosing the election, he claimed adding, “to maintain dignity of office, chief minister Virbhadra Singh should tender his resignation by 28th December afternoon itself.”
Jain said that Virbhadra Singh and his parliamentarian wife Pratibha Singh should put an end to blaming the Election Commission for the party’s woes. “By blaming the EC for holding early elections, the duo appear to have conceded defeat in the elections,” said Jain. Repeatedly accusing the EC for creating a constitutional crisis was an insult to the constitutional body, the high position the chief minister holds as well as the democratic conventions of the country, he said.
When quizzed about BJP having become opportunistic by fielding an congress rebel from the Mandi assembly segment, Jain said, “We are not being opportunistic but are getting a chance to exploit an opportunity to win a seat in Mandi.” He added that consent of the earlier candidate Praveen Sharma was taken to put up DD Thakur as the party nominee so as to contest the seat, otherwise dominated by former communication minister Sukh Ram. Anil Sharma, the son of Sukh Ram is the congress candidate from the seat.
Party bigwigs, Rajnath Singh, LK Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Venkiaah Naidu and Murli Murli Manhoar Joshi would hold simultaneous rallies on 5th December to launch the party’s election campaign, he informed. The party would release their manifesto before that, he added.
Jain asked party rebels who had entered their papers against official candidates to withdraw otherwise the party would be forced to taken action them.
As Editor, Ravinder Makhaik leads the team of media professionals at Hill Post.
In a career spanning over two decades through all formats of journalism in Electronic, Print and Online Media, he brings with him enough experience to steer this platform. He lives in Shimla.
