Nine former Himachal MLAs join BJP
CHANDIGARH : Nine former Himachal Pradesh MLAs, including six disqualified Congress lawmakers and three Independents who resigned on Saturday, joined the BJP amid the continuing political uncertainty in the hill state.
The Supreme Court recently refused to stay the disqualification of the six Congress lawmakers and posted the matter for further hearing on May 6.
Numbers-wise there is no immediate danger to the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led Congress government. However, the BJP aims to weaken the Sukhu administration by winning the six bye-elections due with the Lok Sabha polls on June 1.
These legislators joined the BJP in the presence of I&B Minister Anurag Thakur, former CM and Leader of Opposition in the Himachal Assembly Jai Ram Thakur and state party chief Rajeev Bindal.
The former Congress MLAs were disqualified on February 29 for defying the party whip asking them to be present in the House and vote for the government during a cut motion and the state Budget presentation. The six who joined the BJP are Sudhir Sharma, Ravi Thakur, Rajinder Rana, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Chetanya Sharma and Devinder Kumar Bhutto.
The three Independent MLAs walking into the saffron camp are Ashish Sharma, Hoshiyar Singh and KL Thakur.
Anurag Thakur accused the Congress government of failing to fulfill its promises, leading to anger among people.
The Himachal House strength after disqualification of six MLAs and three Independents is 59. The Congress has 33 MLAs while BJP 25.