Eleven days after they were disqualified from the Himachal Pradesh assembly for defying the whip to vote for the finance Bill, six Congress legislators along with three Independent MLAs left Chandigarh in a chartered plane for Rishikesh in BJP-ruled Uttarakhand, alleging pressure from chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu to fall in line.

Two BJP MLAs Rakesh Jamwal, who is also and party’s state general secretary, and Jaswan MLA Bikram Singh, who is a former state industries minister, accompanied the nine legislators.

In a joint press statement issued on Saturday, the nine MLAs said: “The chief minister knows that he does not have the majority. The Congress government and party leaders in Delhi have been forced to think. This government is the most unpopular and inexperienced till date and this situation has been created because of novices. If the chief minister has any integrity, he should step down and face the public. Central agencies should investigate and act against those talking about horse-trading.”

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The six Congress rebels and the three independents had also voted against Abhishek Manu Singhvi, the Congress candidate in the February 27 Rajya Sabha election, that led to the victory of BJP’s Harsh Mahajan, who was earlier a Congress MLA and aide of ex-CM Virbhadra Singh.

Since their disqualification on February 29, the rebel MLAs had been staying in a Chandigarh hotel under Central Reserve Police Police Force security. Dharamshala MLA Sudhir Sharma was removed from the post of AICC secretary on March 6, while Sujanpur MLA Rajinder Rana resigned as Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee working president.

While Sukhu said that the doors of the party were open for the six MLAs, they alleged harassment and pressure. “A lot of pressure is being put on us (to return to the Congress fold). Sometimes the chief minister sends his emissaries, even government officials, and at other times our families are being pressurised. So, we thought of moving out of Chandigarh. We will chalk out the course of action after the hearing of our case is fixed in the Supreme Court,” Sharma said.

The rebels blamed the CM for shielding the land and mining mafia. “A person who could not keep his 43 people (MLAs) together, could not tour the state, could not meet the workers, rather shielded the land and mining mafia, while industries are migrating from the state,” they said in the statement.

“In panic, Sukhu is calling cabinet meetings one after the other and taking decisions, as if his government is about to collapse. For one year, the government cribbed about the state’s financial health and now he (CM) is least bothered about the government treasury since he has to save his chair. Those who can’t contest even the smallest elections have been allotted posts with cabinet rank,” they said.

The MLAs denied that they had been kidnapped. “There has been no kidnapping and everyone is together voluntarily in the interest of the state and the nation,” the statement from the legislators said, while they reiterated their demand for Sukhu’s resignation as CM.

The party has been trying to reach out to the rebels to defuse the crisis. Public works minister Vikramaditya Singh met the dissidents in Chandigarh twice. “I have conveyed their grouse to the high command. The ball is in its court,” said Vikramaditya, who had also quit the Sukhu cabinet on February 29 only to backtrack the same evening.

Former Rajya Sabha member and state Congress president Viplove Thakur held PCC chief Pratibha Singh responsible for the political crisis along with chief minister Sukhu. “Pratibha Singh remained confined to the Congress office. She hardly toured the state to meet the workers,” Thakur said in Dharamshala.