Three days after the declaration of the results of the Lok Sabha elections and the bypolls to six Assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Friday (June 7, 2024) called a cabinet meeting in Shimla.
The meeting was called all of a sudden and it could not be immediately known what its agenda was. Sources said the meeting could decide on resuming various governments schemes, particularly the Rs 1,500 grant to Himachal women aged 18 and above, a promise made by the ruling Congress in its poll manifesto.
The Congress won four of the six Assembly bypoll seats but lost in all the four Lok Sabha constituencies. The debacle came despite the Congress performing comparatively better in neighbouring Punjab and Haryana.
Sources said the emergency cabinet meeting could focus on welfare schemes, particularly as three more byelections are expected to be held in Himachal within six months as the Speaker has accepted the resignation of three Independent MLAs who joined the BJP after resigning from the Vidhan Sabha. The former MLA — Hoshyar Singh (Dehra), Ashish Sharma (Hamirpur) and KL Thakur (Nalagarh) —are looking to get elected on the BJP ticket.
