Cong wins 4 of 6 seats in Himachal assembly bypolls, MLA strength reaches 38
Shimla, June 4: Four Congress turncoats, who recently joined the BJP in Himachal Pradesh, on Tuesday lost the by-elections from their respective assembly segments, the Election Commission figures showed.
With victory in four assembly segments, the strength of Congress MLAs has gone up to 38 in the house with an effective strength of 65. The result ensures that there is no immediate threat to the Congress government in the state for now.
The Congress won Sujanpur, Gagret, Kutlehar and Lahaul and Spiti assembly seats, while the BJP won from Dharamshala and Barsar, according to the EC.
BJP's Rajinder Rana was defeated by his old rival Ranjit Singh of Congress by a margin of 2,440 votes in the Sujanpur assembly by-election.
Rana is a Congress turncoat who had defeated former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal in the 2017 assembly polls and was the main target of Sukhu in the by-elections. While Rana had recently switched to the BJP, Singh, a retired captain, joined the Congress after Rana was given a BJP ticket for the Sujanpur bypoll.
Singh polled 29,529 votes against Rana's 27,089 votes, according to EC's website.
In a triangular contest in the Lahaul and Spiti by-election, Congress candidate Anuradha Rana defeated her nearest rival and Independent candidate Ram Lal Markanda by a margin of 1,960 votes.
Anuradha Rana, who is the first woman to have contested elections from Lahaul and Spiti in 52 years, became the second woman ever to win from the assembly segment.
She polled 9,414 votes against 7,454 votes received by Markanda, while BJP candidate Ravi Thakur stood third with 3,049 votes.
BJP's Sudhir Sharma, a former minister who was termed as "kingpin" of rebels by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, won the assembly bypoll from Dharamshala constituency by a margin of 5,526 votes.
He secured 28,066 votes against 22,540 votes polled by his Congress rival Devinder Singh Jaggi. BJP rebel Rakesh Chowdhary who contested as an Independent from the seat got 10,770 votes.
Similarly, Congress rebel and BJP candidate from Barsar, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, won by a margin of 2,125 votes. He got 33,088 votes against 30,961 votes polled by his Congress rival Subhash Chand.
BJP rebel Rakesh Kalia who contested on a Congress ticket defeated Congress rebel Chetanya Sharma from Gagret by a margin of 8,487 votes. Kalia polled 35,768 votes, while Chetanya Sharma got 27,281 votes.
BJP candidate Davinder Bhutto, one of the six Congress rebels, was defeated in Kutlehar by his Congress rival Vivek Sharma by 5,356 votes. Vivek Sharma polled 3,68,53 votes against 3,14,97 polled by Bhutto. A total of four candidates were in fray from this seat.
The bypolls in Himachal Pradesh were held on June 1, simultaneously with elections to the four Lok Sabha seats.
Six assembly seats -- Sujanpur, Dharamshala, Lahaul and Spiti, Barsar, Gagret and Kutlehar -- fell vacant following disqualification of Congress rebels for defying the whip to vote in favour of the Congress-led state government during the budget.
These rebels had voted for the BJP in Rajya Sabha polls on February 27 and later joined the BJP and contested the by-elections on the BJP ticket from their respective assembly segments.
As the BJP gave tickets to Congress rebels, two BJP turncoats also entered the fray as Congress candidates after switching to Congress.
The BJP rebels Rakesh Kalia and Ranjeet Singh who entered the fray as Congress candidates from Gagret and Sujanpur won the elections, while two other rebels Ram Lal Markanda and Rakesh Chowdhary who entered the fray as Independents from Lahaul and Spiti and Dharamshala constituencies, respectively, lost.
Winning the by-election was crucial for the ruling party for the stability of the state government which had 34 seats in the 68-member house after disqualification of six MLAs.
The by-election results are a setback for the BJP which had won the Rajya Sabha polls by triggering rebellion in the Congress with six MLAs voting against the official Congress candidate and also winning over the three Independents, who have since joined the BJP.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said the Congress government would not last long in the state and appealed to people to vote for BJP in the by-elections so that the 'lotus' blooms in Himachal as well.
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Putin meets Iran's FM Araghchi, says Russia ready to do its best to help bring peace to West Asia
Moscow (PTI): Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Monday met Russian President Vladimir Putin, who hailed the Iranian people for fighting bravely and heroically for their sovereignty and said Moscow is ready to do its best to help bring peace to West Asia as soon as possible.
Araghchi, who held talks with Omani and Pakistani leadership before arriving in Russia, met Putin in St. Petersburg and thanked him for supporting Iran, state-owned TASS news agency reported.
"Russia is ready to do everything in its power to ensure that peace in the Middle East is achieved as soon as possible," Putin said during his meeting with Araghchi, which was also attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Revealing that he received a message from Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei last week, Putin asked Araghchi to convey his "gratitude for this message and best wishes for his health and well-being."
He praised the Iranian people for fighting "bravely and heroically" for their sovereignty, Iran's state-run PRESS TV reported.
"We really hope that, based on the courage and desire for independence, the Iranian people, under the guidance of the new leader, will weather this difficult period of trials and peace will come,” Putin said.
He also stressed that Russia “intends to maintain” its strategic relations with Iran.
Araghchi said that the world witnessed Iran’s strength in countering the US during the recent war, and that the Islamic Republic is a "stable and powerful establishment."
"With their courage, the Iranian people succeeded in resisting the US aggression and will be able to endure it,” he said.
He said that it became clear that Iran has “great friends and allies” like Russia, and conveyed “warmest greetings” from Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian to the Russian leader.
Araghchi said relations between Moscow and Tehran represent a “strategic partnership at the highest level” and will continue to develop "regardless of circumstances."
"We are grateful to you for the solid and strong positions in support of the Islamic Republic of Iran," he said.
Foreign Minister Lavrov said that the talks between President Putin and the Iranian Foreign Minister were "useful and constructive."
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov later said that Russia is "ready to provide any good offices, any mediation services that are acceptable to the parties."
"We will be ready to do everything so that ultimately peace ensues, guaranteed peace, and that there is no return to hostilities," Peskov was quoted as saying by TASS.
He was asked how Moscow can assist in future negotiations on the Iranian settlement.
Araghchi arrived in Russia after his whirlwind trip to Islamabad, which, according to him, was “very productive” and involved “good consultations" with Pakistan's Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, amid uncertainty over the second round of peace talks to resolve the war in West Asia.
"We held good consultations with our friends in Pakistan. The trip was successful. We assessed the outcome of our recent (meetings) and discussed in what direction and under what conditions talks can move on,” Araghchi said in a video posted on his Telegram channel upon his arrival in St Petersburg.
Referring to the second round of talks between the US and Iran to resolve the conflict in West Asia, Araghchi said: "Developments have taken place in the negotiations."
"Despite some progress in earlier rounds, the talks failed to reach their objectives due to the Americans' approach, the excessive demands they made, and the wrong approaches they adopted. Therefore, it was necessary to consult with our friends in Pakistan to review the latest situation,” Iran's official news agency IRNA quoted him as saying.
He said that the trip to Pakistan was a good opportunity to review developments related to the US-Israeli war against Iran, expressing confidence that “these consultations and coordination between the two countries will be highly significant.”
Araghchi arrived at St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport early Monday, where he was welcomed by Russian officials and Iran’s ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, the report said.
The first round of peace talks between Iran and the US, held on April 11 and 12, failed to bring the desired result for the parties to the conflict.
The Iranian minister arrived in Islamabad for the second time on Sunday after a short visit to Oman, where he held talks with Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said on security in the Strait of Hormuz and diplomatic efforts to end the Iran-US conflict.
After Araghchi left Pakistan for Oman on Saturday, President Donald Trump announced that US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would no longer be going to Islamabad for talks with Iran, contending that Washington held all the cards on the matter.
Trump on Sunday reiterated that the US and Iranian officials can talk by phone for a peace solution to the conflict.
On Tuesday, Trump extended the two-week ceasefire with Iran indefinitely to give Tehran more time to prepare a unified proposal to end the war, just hours before the truce was set to expire.
The war began when the US and Israel jointly attacked Iran on February 28, killing Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several top commanders. The retaliation by the Islamic Republic extended the war to the entire Gulf region.
