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Himachal crisis: Rebel Congress MLAs camp in resort in Uttarakhand
Last month, six rebels and three independents voted in favour of the BJP in the Rajya Sabha elections, resulting in an embarrassing loss to Congress candidate.
Eleven MLAs from Himachal Pradesh, including six Congress rebel legislators and three independent legislators, are camping in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Uttarakhand amid a political crisis in the hill state, people familiar with the matter said on Saturday.
The Congress legislators landed at Jolly Grant airport in Dehradun on Friday afternoon from where they left to the resort in Singtali, around 35 km from Rishikesh, along with two BJP MLAs from Himachal Pradesh amid tight security. A Haryana number security vehicle was also seen stationed outside the resort on Saturday.
It came two days after Himachal Pradesh chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu was summoned by Congress high command on Thursday.
The Congress MLAs camping in the resort are Rajinder Rana (Sujanpur), Sudhir Sharma (Dharamshala), Indradutt Lakhanpal (Barsar), Ravi Thakur (Lahaul-Spiti), Chaitanya Sharma (Gagret) and Devendra Bhutto (Kutlehar) and the independent MLAs are Ashish Sharma (Hamirpur), Hoshiyar Singh (Dehra), and KL Thakur (Nalagarh).
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Last month, six rebels and three independents voted in favour of the BJP in the Rajya Sabha elections, resulting in an embarrassing loss to Congress candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi. BJP’s Harsh Mahajan won the election despite the Congress having a majority. The Congress had said it would fix accountability as to why the crossvoting was allowed to take place.
The six MLAs were later disqualified. The rebels have approached the Supreme Court against the Speaker’s move.
After the 2022 Assembly elections, the Congress had 40 MLAs, while the BJP had 25 in the 68-member state assembly. The remaining three seats are held by independents.
A person familiar with the matter in the BJP said, “Eleven MLAs from Himachal Pradesh who flew from Chandigarh to Jolly Grant airport in Dehradun in a Chartered plane are staying at a resort near Rishikesh. The legislators included six Congress MLAs, three independents and two BJP MLAs Bikram Singh Thakur from Jaswan-Paragpur and Rakesh Jamwal from Sundernagar. They will stay in Rishikesh until the Supreme Court hear the Speaker’s decision of disqualification.”
However, when contacted, Uttarakhand BJP state media in-charge Manveer Singh Chauhan said, “We don’t have any information of Himachal Congress MLAs camping in Uttarakhand, If that has happened, it’s their internal matter.”
The state unit of the Congress termed the development a “constitutional sin” by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Shanti Prasad Bhatt, state Congress spokesperson, said, “By bringing the rebel MLAs who were disqualified from Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly to Uttarakhand, the BJP has committed a constitutional sin.”
He asked, “Who is bearing the expenses of air services and luxurious hotels for rebel MLAs? What will be the total expenditure of the government machinery to ensure their security? And how many security personnel are deployed in their security?”
BJP MLA Bikram Singh Thakur said, “We have come here. They (Congress) can do anything to these MLAs. That’s why we have sought security. We haven’t come here on expenditure of the Congress or the state government.”
Chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu while speaking to reporters on Friday in Palampur said, “Through social media, I have come to know that the MLAs were removed from the hotel in Panchkula. A charter plane from Chandigarh flew as family members of the MLAs were putting pressure on them to return. Some MLAs are sad.”
He added, “What kind of democracy is this in which they have been kept under CRPF security. Is this how democracy will remain strong? Horse trading weakens democracy. We have been serving people. None of the MLAs are in touch with me.”
