The Congress MLAs on Wednesday met individually with the two central observers DK Shivakumar and Bhupendra Hooda. The observers will now submit their report to the party high command.
Shimla: Amid political crisis in the state, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has called a ‘breakfast meeting’ of all Congress MLAs on Thursday ahead of the Assembly session. “It is an important meeting. Let’s see what happens…This is an informal meeting,” party MLA Ashish Butail.
Giving details, Congress MLA Sudarshan Singh Bablu said, “The CM has called everyone for breakfast. Let’s see what discussions are taking place…We received the message last night. Our Government will continue under the leadership of the Chief Minister.”
The Congress MLAs on Wednesday met individually with the two central observers DK Shivakumar and Bhupendra Hooda. The observers will now submit their report to the party high command.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Speaker said that the Parliamentary Affairs Minister had filed a petition against the six MLAs of the Congress party because the anti-defection law attracts proceedings against them.
The Congress government in the state faces a crisis after six MLAs crossed sides and are learnt to be in touch with the BJP. The Congress has 40 MLAs, while the BJP has 25 in the 68-member state assembly. The remaining three seats are held by independents.
The Congress had managed to pass the state budget after the speaker suspended 15 BJP MLAs for allegedly creating a ruckus in his chamber, a move that came under severe criticism from the BJP.
“The BJP has 25 MLAs. The number increased to 34 after the Rajya Sabha voting. This created a danger for the government… They had to pass the budget somehow otherwise the government would fall. For this, they had to decrease the no. of BJP MLAs. 15 MLAs including me have been suspended… We were suspended to save the Congress government. After our suspension, they passed the budget” BJP leader Jairam Thakur said.
The BJP has claimed the Congress had lost the moral standing to be in power after losing majority in the Assembly.
In another development, Assembly speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania is likely to pronounce the order on the future of six rebel Congress MLAs on Thursday who cross voted in the Rajya Sabha polls. The petition was filed by Congress MLA and parliamentary affairs Minister Harsh Wardhan Chauhan under the anti-defection law for disqualification of the six MLAs.
The Congress government in the state faces a crisis after six MLAs crossed sides and are learnt to be in touch with the BJP. The Congress has 40 MLAs, while the BJP has 25 in the 68-member state assembly. The remaining three seats are held by independents.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Speaker said that the Parliamentary Affairs Minister had filed a petition against the six MLAs of the Congress party because the anti-defection law attracts proceedings against them.
“When the petition came to me, then I, as a Speaker, had to function like a tribunal. The hearing regarding the same is underway,” he said.
Reacting to the suspension of 15 BJP MLAs for alleged misbehaviour in the House, the speaker said that the MLAs were trying to create an atmosphere where they could attack him.
15 BJP MLAs were suspended from the Assembly for allegedly creating a ruckus in the Speaker’s chamber.
The suspended MLAs were LoP Jai Ram Thakur, Vipin Parmar, Randhir Sharma, Hans Raj, Vinod Kumar, Janak Raj, Balbir Verma, Lokinder Kumar, Trilok Jamwal, Surinder Shourie, Puran Chand, Dalip Thakur, Inder Singb Gandhi, Ranbir Nikka, and Deep Raj.
(With inputs from ANI)
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