Though enjoying support, CM’s woes could multiply

Pratibha Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, May 22

Even as his Cabinet colleagues, MLAs and senior party leaders today queued up in Delhi to express solidarity with Virbhadra Singh while he appeared in court today, the problems of the Chief Minister, under fire for serious corruption charges, could compound in the coming days as the high command is weighing all possible options.

Virbhadra, who along with wife Pratibha Singh, appeared in a Delhi court tried to send a strong signal to the high command that he still enjoyed the support of a majority party legislators. Ministers - GS Bali, Mukesh Agnihotri, Sudhir Sharma, Thakur Singh Bharmouri, Prakash Chaudhary and Sujan Singh Pathania, Chief Parliamentary Secretary - Nand Lal, Jagjivan Pal and Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, MLAs – Kuldeep Kumar, Mohan Lal Brakta, Sanjay Rattan, Yadvinder Goma and half a dozen chairmen and vice chairmen of boards and corporations were present at his residence in Delhi. Some of these leaders also met Central Congress leaders later after the court attendance.

While most of these leaders turned up at Virbhadra’s official residence in Delhi before the court hearing, some of them also accompanied him to court. “We are keeping a close watch on the developments in cases faced by the CM. If need be, all options will be considered by the party,” was the guarded reaction of HPCC president Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu.

Even though former Madhya Pradesh CM and senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh made a brief appearance in the court while Virbhadra appeared there along with his wife but in case charges are framed, the high command could contemplate change of leadership. However, with court procedures taking a lot of time, Virbhadra is likely to complete his term as Chief Minister by the end of this year. Interestingly, some of the senior ministers, including Health and Family Welfare Minister Kaul Singh Thakur, Social Justice and Welfare Minister Dhani Ram Shandil and Rural Development Minister Anil Sharma were not present.

Virbhadra Singh is facing a disproportionate assets case filed by the CBI in which the charge-sheet has been submitted in court. A money laundering case too has been filed against him by the Enforcement Directorate.

While the morale of the Congress cadres is very low in Himachal following the cases faced by the Chief Minister and the impressive BJP performance in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the ruling party faces an uphill task in the Assembly polls due anytime after October. The BJP, on the other hand, is not leaving any stone unturned to gear up its cadres and have a blueprint ready to wrest the state from the Congress.