Met party leaders in Himachal, proud of their unity: Priyanka Gandhi

SHIMLA: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Sunday said she met all leaders of the Congress party in Himachal Pradesh and was "proud" of their unity and determination to fight the elections strongly.

“On one side, there is the BJP’s empire of fear, greed and lies. There is politics that destroys democracy for power through money power and agencies. On the other, the Congress has the resolve to work tirelessly for the people with truth, courage and patience,” she wrote on X in Hindi.

Saying she has full faith that the people will support the Congress, she added, “The truth will win. Hail Himachal. Hail India.”

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has given tickets to all six Congress rebels, who had supported it in the Rajya Sabha elections, for the June 1 Assembly bypoll simultaneous with four Lok Sabha seats.

The candidates are Sudhir Sharma from Dharamsala, Rajinder Rana from Sujanpur, Ravi Thakur from Lahaul-Spiti, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal from Barsar, Chaitanya Sharma from Gagret and Devender Bhutto from Kutlehar.

These seats fell vacant due to the disqualification of the legislators for defying the party whip while passing the state budget. Chief Minister Sukhvinder Sukhu has said he was not afraid of “conspiracies” being hatched against him. He accused the BJP of attempting to destabilise the elected government.