Cong calls meet of Himachal MLAs in Chandigarh amid poaching buzz

The Congress has convened a meeting of all its newly-elected MLAs in Himachal Pradesh in Chandigarh after the declaration of results on Thursday, and the meet was likely to pass a resolution authorising the Congress president to elect the Congress Legislature Party leader.

As trends indicated a comfortable win for the grand old party in Himachal Pradesh, Shukla said the party was happy that it is getting an opportunity to form the government in the state and asserted that the party will do everything to fulfill the 10 guarantees made to the people of the state and would provide better governance to people.

"The newly-elected Congress MLAs would meet in Chandigarh post-election results and decide on electing the new legislature party leader," Shukla told PTI.

Sources said the MLAs are likely to pass a one-line resolution authorising the Congress president to decide the CLP leader.

This has been the tradition in the Congress party, they said.

"The party is sending two observers --Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and senior leader Bhupinder Hooda-- along with me. We will be travelling in some time to Chandigarh today where all the party MLAs have been called," Shukla said.

"The election result trends are a happy thing for us and we are heading towards getting around 40 seats. We are confident that we are getting an opportunity to get power in Himachal," he told reporters.

The party will fulfill the 10 guarantees that it has given to the people of the state and provide good governance to the people of the state, as was done during the past six terms when Virbhadra Singh was chief minister, he said, adding that the people are looking forward as they are fed up with Bharatiya Janata Party's governance.

Earlier, Shukla had said that he along with Baghel and Hooda will travel to Himachal Pradesh.

"The results are still coming in ... it is a victory of the people. With the blessings of God, if Congress wins, we will do everything possible for the interest of the people of Himachal Pradesh. Priyanka ji (Priyanka Gandhi Vadra) campaigned a lot, she worked really hard," he told reporters.

Shukla said Priyanka Gandhi took the reins of the campaign in her hands and did a great job with it.

He also thanked Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi and general secretary organisation K C Venugopal for their cooperation in poll preparations.

He said Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra had also had an indirect impact on the elections and among the people.

While Shukla is All India Congress Committee in charge of Himachal Pradesh, Baghel was appointed senior observer for the polls.

Baghel said the party needed to protect its MLAs in the hill state from any possibility of horse-trading.

The BJP can 'go to any level', he claimed.

Baghel denied speculation that the newly elected party MLAs from Himachal Pradesh will be shifted to Chhattisgarh.

"The counting is still underway and we should wait for the final results. However, we were confident that we will form government in Himachal Pradesh and the early trends show we are heading towards victory there," Baghel told reporters.

The Chhattisgarh CM said he will go to the northern state later in the day.

Asked whether Congress MLAs from Himachal will be shifted to Raipur amid the possibility of horse-trading, Baghel said, "They will not be brought here. However, we have to protect our friends (MLAs) as the BJP can do anything. It can go to any level."

He claimed the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was the 'B team' of the BJP.