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Six disqualified Congress MLAs in Himachal Pradesh join BJP
The six MLAs — Sudhir Sharma, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Ravi Thakur, Chetanya Sharma, Rajinder Rana and Devinder Kumar Bhutto — faced disqualification on Feb 29.
Six former MLAs from Himachal Pradesh, disqualified as Congress legislators, have joined the BJP in Delhi. The event took place in the presence of Union Minister Anurag Thakur and former Himachal Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur.
The six MLAs — Sudhir Sharma, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Ravi Thakur, Chetanya Sharma, Rajinder Rana and Devinder Kumar Bhutto — faced disqualification on February 29. This resulted from defying a party whip that required their presence in the House and voting in favour of the Himachal Pradesh government during a cut motion and budget session.
As reported by PTI, Thakur welcomed the former Congress lawmakers into the party, emphasising that their inclusion would bolster the BJP's strength. He criticised the state's Congress government for not fulfilling its commitments, resulting in widespread discontent among the people. According to Thakur, the support extended by these leaders to the BJP during the recent Rajya Sabha election reflects the prevailing "public anger" against the Congress.
The recent events unfolded a day after three Independent legislators, who supported the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Harsh Mahajan during the Rajya Sabha elections on February 27, and had been staying in Delhi for over a week along with the six disqualified Congress MLAs, resigned from the assembly on Friday. They are likely to join the BJP soon.
The three MLAs — Hoshiyar Singh from Dehra, Ashish Sharma from Hamirpur, and KL Thakur from Nalagarh — resigned and submitted their resignation letters to Vidhan Sabha secretary Yashpal Sharma in Shimla. Singh said, “All three of us are joining the BJP. We had supported the Congress earlier but were not getting due respect. Besides, we are facing difficulty in carrying out day-to-day work in our constituencies. So, it’s a conscious decision to join the BJP.”
The number of legislators in the 68-member House has now reduced to 59 due to recent developments. The Congress currently holds 34 members, which includes the Speaker, whereas the BJP has 25 MLAs.
On June 1, by-elections for six assembly constituencies will be conducted simultaneously with the four Lok Sabha seats.
Last month, the Congress government under Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu faced a crisis when the BJP secured victory in the Rajya Sabha poll for the state's single seat with the backing of these nine MLAs.
Despite Sukhu's outward confidence and the absence of immediate danger to his government, the BJP aims to weaken his administration by winning bypolls. There is a perception that such wins could attract more ruling party legislators to join the BJP camp, potentially destabilising the Sukhu-led government.
