Amid the political crisis in Himachal Pradesh, the Congress on Wednesday accused the BJP of trying to capture power through backdoor by toppling the Congress government in the state.

Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters, Congress general secretary in-charge of Communications Jairam Ramesh said three observers — Bhupesh Baghel, Bhupinder Singh Hooda and DK Shivakumar — are in Shimla and they will meet all the MLAs and submit a report to party president Mallikarjun Kharge at the earliest.

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“The Congress president has spoken to the observers. He has told them to meet all the MLAs, find out their grievances and give a comprehensive report on what needs to be done to fulfill the mandate we got from the people of Himachal Pradesh in December, 2022,” he said.

Attacking the BJP, Ramesh said, “A conspiracy is being hatched to topple the Congress government. To fight this ‘operation lotus’, what are initiatives that need to be taken , the Congress president has told the three senior leaders.”

“In December,2022, the people of Himachal decisively rejected Narendra Modi, JP Nadda, Anurag Thakur and Jairam Thakur. This is yet another way of trying to come to power through the ‘backdoor’, which they did earlier in Madhya Pradesh. They were in Goa, Manipur. The latest example is in Himachal Pradesh. We won’t let this happen,” he said.

On cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha election in the state, Ramesh categorically said accountability will be fixed.

“In the report which will be submitted there will be two parts- first, why did the cross voting happen and how was it allowed to happen and other is to save the government what steps need to be taken. When the report comes, the Congress president will hold discussions and decisions will be made. Until then all the reports and speculations are baseless,” he said.

Ramesh, who is also the Congress’ MP in Rajya Sabha further said, “Individuals are not important. The party interest is supreme. More than the party’s interest, it is the mandate of the people that was given in December, 2022, that is most important.”

In response to a question on changing the leadership in the state, he said, “It depends on the report. All options are open.”

Meanwhile, echoing similar sentiments, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in a post on X, accused the BJP of “horse-trading”.

Pointing out that in a democracy, the public has the right to choose the government of their choice, Vadra said, “The people of Himachal used this right and formed the Congress government with a clear majority. But, the BJP wants to crush this right of the people of Himachal by misusing the money power, power of agencies and power of the Centre.”

She asserted the way BJP is using government security and machinery for this purpose is “unprecedented” in the history of the country.

“If a party with 25 MLAs is challenging the majority of 43 MLAs, then it clearly means that it is dependent on horse-trading of representatives. This attitude of theirs is unethical and unconstitutional. The people of Himachal and the country are watching everything. The BJP, which did not stand with the people of the state during the natural disaster, now wants to push the state into political disaster,” added Vadra.