Image: x @Rajinderrana999
More legislators are feeling suffocated in the Congress and would also show courage to quit the party in the coming days, said Rajinder Rana, one of the six disqualified MLAs who switched to the BJP on Saturday.
The Congress rebels and three independent MLAs, who had voted in favor of the BJP in the recently concluded Rajya Sabha polls, received a warm welcome on their arrival here after joining the party in New Delhi.
“More lawmakers feel stifled in Congress and are in contact with us. They would also show courage to quit the Congress in the coming days,” Rana told reporters here.
He blamed the Congress leadership for the ‘political disaster’ in the hill state and alleged that the state government is ‘on life support’.
The BJP workers and supporters of these leaders danced to the traditional folk tunes while welcoming them here on Saturday evening.
#WATCH | Shimla: After joining the BJP, former Himachal Pradesh minister Sudhir Sharma says, “The Congress party has given ten guarantees to the people, fourteen months have passed and it was difficult for an ordinary party worker to meet the CM , this hurt the self-respect of elected MLAs… I… pic.twitter.com/Itgl5vsqiC— ANI (@ANI) March 23, 2024
The three independents, Ashish Sharma (Hamirpur constituency), Hoshiyar Singh (Dehra) and KL Thakur (Nalagarh), had submitted their resignations on Friday.
The former six Congress MLAs, who were disqualified for defying party whip, included Sudhir Sharma (Dharamshala), Ravi Thakur (Lahaul and Spiti), Rajinder Rana (Sujanpur), Inder Dutt Lakhanpal (Barsar), Chetanya Sharma (Gagret) and Devinder. Kumar Bhutto (Kutlehar
“The elected representatives have been humiliated in the last 15 months and people asked us when the 10 guarantees promised in the last parliamentary elections would be fulfilled and we had no answer,” Rana said.
“We nine MLAs have decided to file a defamation case against Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu for his alleged comments on “Dhan bal,” Rana said.
Sudhir Sharma, a four-term MLA and former minister, said the Congress is falling apart because its leadership has no vision for the country and has nothing to offer except criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Humiliation of legislators has continued to this day and even the voters of our constituency were dissatisfied with the government,” he added.
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“I have joined BJP as per my will,” he added.
“Development work in the state has come to a standstill for 15 months since the Congress came to power and the government, which is on life support, is trying its best to survive,” Hoshiyar Singh said.
Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur said that all these leaders who have now joined the BJP family are impressed with the Prime Minister’s development policies and they would be given full respect and treated like family members.
“The Congress government is in minority,” Thakur said
State BJP chief Rajiv Bindal said it is a “historic day and we welcome them to the BJP”.
The nine leaders had joined the BJP on Saturday afternoon in the presence of Union Minister Anurag Thakur, former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, National General Secretary Arun Singh and state unit president Rajeev Bindal.
The Election Commission has announced by-polls for the six constituencies falling under these former Congress MLAs. Bypolls are also expected to be announced for the Independents’ three seats.
With the disqualification of six Congress MLAs, the strength of the ruling Congress fell from 40 to 34, including the Speaker who can vote only in the event of a tie during a floor test in the 68-member Assembly. The BJP has 25 members.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
First print: March 23, 2024 | 11:31 PM IST