Latest News | Congress in Talks with 6 Rebels for Their Return, Offered Them Plum Posts: Jai Ram Thakur
Get latest articles and stories on Latest News at LatestLY. Former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Jai Ram Thakur on Friday claimed that the Congress has been trying to woo back its six rebel leaders, who had cast their votes for the BJP candidate against party lines in the last month's Rajya Sabha polls.
Shimla, Mar 22 (PTI) Former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Jai Ram Thakur on Friday claimed that the Congress has been trying to woo back its six rebel leaders, who had cast their votes for the BJP candidate against party lines in the last month's Rajya Sabha polls.
Addressing a press conference here on Friday, Thakur said that a piquant situation prevails in the party with rounds of persuasion taking place to bring the rebels back into the fold.
The six Congress MLAs had been stripped off their state assembly membership last month. Later the party also removed them from internal posts. They still, however, remain in the party.
The six have been camping outside Himachal since their rebellion.
Thakur said that the state Congress chief Pratibha Singh refused to contest Lok Sabha polls from Mandi because, according to her, party workers were demoralised and inactive and the ground situation was not favourable.
The Leader of Opposition claimed that three senior Congress leaders were in touch with the rebels, who had been told that the party high command had made up its mind to replace Chief Minister Sukhwinder Sukhu after the Lok Sabha polls.
He claimed that the six rebels have been offered plum posts as well as party tickets to contest the assembly by-elections.
Thakur also accused the state government of adopting a vindictive attitude towards rebels.
He said that a devolution notice has been served on Inder Dutt Lakhanpal (Congress rebel from Barsar assembly seat), while the road leading to the house of Ravi Thakur of Lahaul and Spiti has been closed, and businesses of family members of Independent member KL Thakur are being targeted.
On protests by the AAP against the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister, Thakur said that the corruption of Arvind Kejriwal, who claimed himself to be the most honest person, has been exposed and such protests are irrelevant.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)