Solan, January 11
Himachal Vikas Congress (HVC) supremo, Mr Sukh Ram, today said he had decided to pull out his party from the National Democratic Alliance and withdraw his party’s support to the Vajpayee government.
The HVC has one member in the Lok Sabha and one in the Rajya Sabha.
Mr Sukh Ram, who was speaking at a meeting of “like-minded secular parties for combating communal forces”, convened at Parwanoo today, said a formal decision of the HVC’s withdrawal from the NDA would be made after a meeting of the party’s executive committee to be held soon at Shimla.
Leaders of the state units of the CPI, the CPM, the Janata Dal (S), the Samajwadi Janata Party and the HVC attended the meeting.
Later, briefing newspersons, the SJP state unit President, Mr Kul Rakesh Pant, said the five parties that attended today’s meeting had decided to sink their differences for the time being and work unitedly for taking on the BJP in the coming elections.
They had also decided to put up a common candidate in all 68 Assembly segments in the elections which would be “unitedly fought as per agreed strategy”.
