No Congress MLA can be poached in Himachal Pradesh: Former state party chief

Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) [India], December 4 (ANI): Ahead of the counting of votes for the Himachal Assembly polls, former state Congress chief Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has expressed confidence in the party winning the elections, and said that he does not have any fear of defections as no legislator of his party can be poached.
"The Congress party leaders in the state do not have any fear of defections after the poll results. The party is hopeful for a landmark victory in the state," Singh said.
The Congress leader said that the other parties are playing pressure politics, however, his party will have more seats than an absolute majority.
"We are forming the government in the state as we are winning with full majority and on the result day, we shall achieve the absolute majority number and will lead to the landslide victory. The BJP is not winning. Anyone who wants to defect Congress MLAs that is not possible, they can't buy the legislators. Not even a single Congress MLA will defect to the party after the poll results," he said.
"They are playing pressure politics. They (BJP) will not have a number that can form a government by defecting 10 -12 MLAs of other parties," Singh added.
Asked about his chief ministerial possibilities if the Congress wins the elections, the former party chief said that he will disclose his plans once he wins as an MLA, while also adding that all the 68 candidates should be the candidates for the top post.
"As far as you talk about the Chief ministerial candidate, in the 2017 elections, Dhumal ji was the chief ministerial candidate, but he lost the elections. As far as I am concerned, I am a candidate for MLA. Once I win as a legislator, I will let you know about my plans. All 68 candidates could be candidates for Chief Ministership," he said.
Singh said that the party's high command will decide on the candidate for the chief minister.
"The legislators and the party high command will decide the candidates. After the death of Virbhadra Singh, there is no group in the Congress party. We all fought elections collectively and Virbhadra Singh was the tallest leader. He is remembered and his works and contribution will remain with us forever," he said.
Hitting out at Chief Minister Jairam Thakur, Singh said that he lacked "administrative ability" while also accusing him of being a "remote control".
"We want the power, not for the sake of it but to change the system. Now Riwaz (tradition) will continue as the government will be changed. It is clear we are forming a government because there were issues of the Army men, the Old Pension Scheme, the police recruitment scam, issues of farmers, and imposing GST on the apple packaging material. The Chief Minister lacked administrative ability, Our Chief Minister was a remote control CM," he said.
He said that the promises made by the party will be delivered after the formation of the government.
"The results will be out on December 8. The picture will be clear on the result day. We have made commitments to the public by giving assurances as guarantees. We shall perform and execute the promises one by one," Singh said.
The voting for the single-phased elections took place on November 12. The counting of votes will be done on December 8, along with those of the Gujarat Assembly elections. (ANI)