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Journalism of Courage
SHIMLA, Oct 16: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said here today that there was absolutely no threat to the BJP-HVC coalition government in the state. He also denied any pressure from HVC president Sukh Ram to give Cabinet berth to his party MLA Ram Lal Markanday.
Dhumal, who returned here from Delhi, held a fresh meeting with Sukh Ram besides separate meetings with HVC working president Vijay Joshi and Public Works Minister Mohinder Singh Thakur, who is also HVC vice-president. He told mediapersons after the meetings that all crucial issues including fielding a common candidate for Baijnath Assembly polls were discussed in detail and settled amicably.
To a question on possible induction of Markanday in the Ministry, Dhumal said: “HVC will get its due”. Though he did not indicate exact timings for accommodating Markanday, Chief Minister claimed that the MLA could have been in the government by now but because of some “communication gap”, he had slipped away before the swearing-in ceremony at the time of last Cabinet expansion.
About growing resentment within the BJP for non-inclusion of Ram Dass Malangar, a sitting MLA from Kutlehar (Una), Dhumal said Malangar was with him yesterday and he denied having ever threatened to resign from his Assembly seat or party as a mark of protest for his exclusion from the Ministry. “Malangar, or anyone else, will get his due provided he shows some patience and adheres to the party discipline,” Dhumal assured.
Dhumal said that his meeting with Sukh Ram in New Delhi early this week helped in removing a lot of misunderstandings, which had cropped up during the past few days. There was also no clash of interests between BJP and HVC on Baijnath Assembly seat. Dhumal also denied that he had tried to undermine HVC or its leaders on any occasion. “There have been regular interactions and I know that Sukh Ram is also under a lot of pressure from his own partymen,” he says.
The Chief Minister said that his party treated HVC as an equal partner in the government and that its ministers, MLAs and other senior leaders were being given due respect and honour. About Sukh Ram, Chief Minister claimed that he (HVC president) had been appointed chairman of a powerful committee on employment generation and resource mobilisation in order to take advantage of his experiences for benefit of the people of the state.
Regarding HVC demand to concede Baijnath seat to them, Dhumal said the issue would be sorted out without any problem and preliminary discussions had already been held in presence of BJP general secretary Narinder Modi in New Delhi. He accused Congress of trying to mislead people about problems in the BJP-HVC alliance and declared that the alliance would emerge stronger after Baijnath polls.
