Himachal CM Sukhu calls ‘breakfast meeting’ of all Congress MLAs ahead of the meeting
The Congress MLAs had an individual meeting with the two central observers DK Shivakumar and Bhupendra Hooda on Wednesday. The observers will now submit their report to the party high command.
Shimla: Amid the political crisis in the state, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has convened 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 Prime Minister.”
The Congress MLAs had an individual meeting with the two central observers DK Shivakumar and Bhupendra Hooda on Wednesday. The observers will now submit their report to the party high command.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Speaker said the Parliamentary Affairs Minister had filed a petition against the six Congress party MLAs as the anti-defection law is leading to cases against them.
The Congress government in the state is facing a crisis after six MLAs sided with the party and tried to maintain contact 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 unrest in his chamber, a move that came under heavy criticism from the BJP.
“The BJP has 25 MLAs. The number rose to 34 after the Rajya Sabha vote. This created a danger to the government… They had to pass the budget somehow or the government would fall. For this they had to lower the no. of BJP MLAs. 15 MLAs, including me, have been suspended… We have been suspended to save the Congress government. After our suspension, they passed the budget,” said BJP leader Jairam Thakur.
The BJP has alleged that the Congress has 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 give orders on Thursday on the future of six rebel Congress MLAs who voted among themselves in the Rajya Sabha polls. The petition was filed by Congress MLA and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Harsh Wardhan Chauhan under the Anti-Defection Act for disqualification of the six MLAs.
The Congress government in the state is facing a crisis after six MLAs sided with the party and tried to maintain contact 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 the Parliamentary Affairs Minister had filed a petition against the six Congress party MLAs as the anti-defection law is leading to cases against them.
“When the petition came to me, as chairman I had to function like a tribunal. The hearing on this is ongoing,” he said.
Reacting to the suspension of 15 BJP MLAs for alleged misconduct in the House of Representatives, the Speaker said the MLAs were trying to create an atmosphere for them to attack him.
15 BJP MLAs were suspended from the Assembly for allegedly creating unrest 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 Diep Raj.
(With inputs from ANI)