A political crisis was triggered in the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh led by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu last month after the BJP won the Rajya Sabha poll for the state’s lone seat due to the support of these nine MLAs.
Himachal Political Crisis: The ongoing political crisis plaguing Himachal Pradesh is likely to take another interesting turn as rebel Congress MLAs and three independents are expected to join the BJP and contest the upcoming bypolls on the saffron party’s ticket.
Citing sources, a PTI report said that six Congress MLAs and three independents are likely to join the BJP.
On February 29, six rebel Congress MLAs — Sudhir Sharma, Ravi Thakur, Rajinder Rana, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Chetanya Sharma and Devinder Kumar Bhutto — were disqualified for defying a party whip to be present in the House and vote in favour of the Himachal Pradesh government during a cut motion and budget.
Will join BJP: Independents
Meanwhile, on Friday, three Independent MLAs — Ashish Sharma, Hoshiyar Singh and KL Thakur — also resigned from the Himachal Pradesh Assembly and announced their intention of contesting the bypolls on a BJP ticket.
“We have submitted our resignations. We will join the BJP and contest the elections on its ticket,” former MLA Hoshiyar Singh told reporters.
The Election Commission has announced bypolls for the constituencies of disqualified Congress MLAs while the same is expected to announced for the seats held by the Independent lawmakers as well.
Himachal political crisis
A political crisis was triggered in the Congress government led by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu last month after the BJP won the Rajya Sabha poll for the state’s lone seat due to the support of these nine MLAs.
Though Sukhu has been putting up a brave face and there appears to be no immediate threat to his government, the BJP is looking to topple his dispensation with bypoll wins amid a view that it may draw more legislators of the ruling party into its fold.
With the disqualification of the six Congress MLAs, the strength of the ruling party came down from 39 to 33 in the now 62-member assembly. Its original strength is 68. The BJP has 25 members.
The Speaker, who can vote only in the case of a tie during a floor test, is affiliated to the Congress.
The resignations of the three Independent MLAs have further reduced the assembly’s strength.
(With PTI inputs)