AMID a political crisis in Himachal Pradesh after the defeat of the Congress candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Wednesday asserted that he has not resigned as the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh and will run the Government for five years. “Neither the high command has asked me nor anyone else for resignation and there is no such thing,” Sukhu said while replying to a question. “I am a fighter. I hail from a humble family. We will win this battle and also prove a majority in the Vidhan Sabha,” he told mediapersons here. He said, “The kind of work done by the State BJP leaders. They did not trust their own people. CRPF was deployed. Haryana police was deployed. A helicopter was used.”

 

In a stunning upset for the ruling Congress in Himachal Pradesh, the BJP on Tuesday won the State’s lone Rajya Sabha seat with its candidate Harsh Mahajan defeating Congress stalwart Abhishek Manu Singhvi and apparently setting the stage for a no-trust motion in the Assembly. “But I want to say one thing that the people of Himachal are with us and MLAs are with us and I can definitely say that we will run the Himachal Government for five years,” said Sukhu. Asked whether it was because of the “Operation Lotus” or “own people” that led to the current situation, the Chief Minister said, “Some mistakes may have been made and because of those mistakes, there may have been some deficiencies.” But he also said, “The kind of ‘tantar-mantar’ used in the Operation Lotus that had bigger (role) in it.”