CM, Sukhu bury hatchet

Pratibha Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, September 28

The furor within the Congress seems to have been settled, at least for the time being with Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) president Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu today sitting across the table to iron out differences that had arisen in the recent past.

It is at the behest of some senior leaders that the two leaders heading, the government and the party met here today in the secretariat. The immediate fallout of the meeting was that Sukhu rejected the resignation of the two HPCC Secretaries - Pradeep Verma and Kusum Verma, both from Shimla (rural) Assembly segment.

Those present during the hour-long meeting included Transport Minister GS Bali, HPCC vice president Harsh Mahajan and HPCC general secretary Harbhajan Singh Bhajji. 

The displeasure expressed by Virbhadra over 100 HPCC secretaries being appointed without the knowledge of the local MLA and leaders had evoked strong reaction from the office-bearers. While two secretaries had resigned from their post, five others had objected to the manner in which their standing in the party was being questioned.

“I had a detailed talk with the Chief Minister over various party issues and all issues have been sorted out. To ensure better coordination between the government and the party, there will be frequent interaction between the ministers and party functionaries,” said Sukhu. He added that as per the desire of the Chief Minister, he will be provided a complete list of the office bearers of the HPCC, District Congress Committee (DCC) and Block Congress Committee (BCC).

Virbhadra had some time expressed displeasure over the fact that despite his repeated request to the HPCC he had not been provided the names and address of the party office bearers. “The CM today said that he would want to give prior information to all the party office bearers about his visit to their area, so he should be given a list of names and addresses,” said Sukhu. It is learnt that HPCC general secretary Bhajji has been entrusted the task of providing complete lists in this regard to the Chief Minister.

Though Sukhu had taken the initiative to get one minister to attend to grievances of the party workers and the public in general by spending a day at the Congress office but lately utterances by the Chief Minister had reflected that all was not well between the party and the government.

The CM reportedly wrote a letter to the party high command seeking change of the HPCC chief and even suggested names.  Though he denied having written any such letter, he did admit that there was need for improvement in the functioning of the HPCC.