Himachal assembly bypoll: Congress appoints in-charges for 3 seats vacated by Independent MLAs

Shimla: HPCC General Secretary Rajneesh Kimta on Thursday said the party is fully prepared for the upcoming assembly by-elections in the state and will face the “money power” with unity.

In a statement released here, he informed that the Congress has appointed three ministers as in-charges for by-election to Dehra, Nalagarh and Hamirpur assembly seats.

The three Independent MLAs -- Ashish Sharma (Hamirpur), Hoshiyar Singh (Dehra) and KL Thakur (Nalagarh) -- resigned from the assembly on March 22 and joined the BJP the following day.

The by-elections will be held on July 10.

Agriculture Minister Chander Kumar has been appointed incharge of Dehra assembly seat, Education Minister Rohit Thakur for Nalagarh and Technical Education Minister Rajesh Dharmani for Hamirpur.

The Congress leaders have been alleging that nine MLAs, including six Congress rebels, and the three Independents who voted in favour of the BJP in Rajya Sabha polls on February 27 and BJP tried to topple the government by using money.

Khimta said the party has won four seats in the recent assembly by-elections, which proves that the people of Himachal Pradesh are happy with the policies, programmes and leadership of the Congress government and the voters have rejected the horse-trading policies of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

He said that in the upcoming bypolls, the Congress will unitedly face the unethical tactics of the BJP and hoist the victory flag on these three seats.

The BJP had on Wednesday appointed incharges for these three seats.