Himachal ministers repose faith in Virbhadra

Shimla, May 26 (IANS) Ministers in Himachal Pradesh Monday said the Congress party and the government have accepted the verdict of the people and reposed faith in the leadership of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.

"Unlike the BJP, where the party was relegated to the backstage and the entire election campaign was centred around Narendra Modi, the Congress contested the parliamentary election as an organisation," the ministers said in a statement.

"It's absolutely ridiculous to hold any individual responsible for the defeat of the Congress in the state," the ministers, including Vidya Stokes and G.S. Bali, added.

They said the poll results were not a referendum on the performance of the state government.

"The Modi wave swept the polls in the country, including Himachal Pradesh, and (Prem Kumar) Dhumal or the Bharatiya Janata Party here has no credit to take in it," they said.

Dhumal himself remained confined mostly in Hamirpur from where his son was contesting, the ministers added.

Denouncing a statement by former chief minister Dhumal, who called for change of leadership in the state, as "inane" and "arrogant", the Congress leaders advised him to stop threatening the government and behave in a mature way.

The Congress lost all four Lok Sabha seats to the BJP. The losing candidates included the chief minister's wife Pratibha Singh.

The ministers said Virbhadra Singh undertook an intense election campaign and addressed 834 public meetings covering each and every assembly constituency in the state.