Himachal Cong leaders meet as party tries to keep its flock together

In the backdrop of toppling of its government in Uttarakhand, Congress today sought to put its flock together in Himachal Pradesh with all its state leaders pledging to unitedly fight attempts to destabilise the Virbhadra Singh dispensation.
With factional feud in the party's Uttarakhand unit partly contributing to the exit of its government, Congress organised a meeting of the coordination committee of Himachal in Delhi where all its leaders in the state, including chief minister Virbhadra Singh, all ministers and MLAs were present.
The meeting, that lasted over two and half hours, was chaired by AICC general secretary Ambika Soni, who is also incharge of party affairs in the state, and saw all Congress MLAs from Himachal putting their weight behind the state government.

AICC general secretary Ambika Soni, who is incharge ofparty affairs in Himachal Pradesh, claimed "the Congress legislature party is fully united and there was not even an iota of possibility of a situation like Uttarakhand emerging in the state".
Soni said that there was "no crisis" in Himachal Congress and what happened in the Uttarakhand was an "attack on democracy".
She alleged that the BJP-led central government was trying to destabilise the Congress government in the state but said its efforts would not succeed.

Congress in the state would protest at the block level against the "anti-democratic" approach and tactic of BJP.

Regarding on-going investigations by CBI and ED against the Chief Minister, Soni said "this matter is sub-judice, the investigation is going on since 2011 and we are going to face it and no one is going to evade the law."
Senior Himachal Congress leaders Kaul Singh, Vidya Stokes and PCC chief Sukhvinder Singh Sukkhu, who attended today's meeting, also said that there was "no crisis" in the party in the state and the government under the leadership of Virbhadra Singh was "strong and stable" and would not only last its full term but also return to power in the next assembly polls.

Sukkhu dismissed the claims of BJP leaders that some Congress MLAs were in touch with the party and said that on the contrary some disgruntled BJP MLAs were in touch with Congress.
Sources said some of the state Congress leaders, who are known critics of Virbhadra, vented out their anger against him at the meeting and sought changes in the functioning of the state government.
Sukhu said the party will fight unitedly any attempt to destabilise its government.
"We are together. We will protest jointly against the Centre's attempts to destabilise the Himachal government. We will oppose BJP's attempt to topple the Congress' elected government in Himachal Pradesh," he said.

Besides Vidya Stokes, Sukhu and Kaul Singh Thakur, other senior state party leaders like Mukesh Agnihotri, G S Bali, Asha Kumari and Rajya Sabha MP Viplove Thakur also attended the meeting.
Some other state Congress leaders like Rangila Ram Rao, S S Pathania, Rakesh Kalia and Kuldeep Kumar were also present during the meeting.