Himachal LoP Jairam Thakur Alleges Congress Government Looking To Disqualify 7 BJP MLAs

Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) [India] : Himachal Pradesh Leader of Opposition Jairam Thakur on Monday claimed that Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led Congress government in Himachal Pradesh is trying to disqualify BJP's seven MLAs to save the Congress government in the state.

"I would like to say that there is instability in the government and the Chief Minister is trying to save the government in the state, there are 7 new legislators being given the notice and they are trying to move forward towards the disqualification of more members of BJP. We are looking forward to the legal aspects," said Himachal Pradesh Leader of Opposition Jairam Thakur.

On February 28, the Himachal Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania had suspended 15 BJP MLAs from the house for allegedly causing ruckus in the speakers' chamber
On February 29, the Speaker then disqualified the six Congress MLAs who cross voted in the Rajya Sabha polls. The six MLAs who had been disqualified were Sudhir Sharma, Rajinder Rana, Davinder K Bhutto, Ravi Thakur, Chaitanya Sharma and Inder Dutt Lakhanpal under the anti-defection law.

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. With the six rebel MLAs disqualified the strength of the house comes down from 68 to 62 and the halfway mark is 32. With the loss of 6 MLAs the Congress now has 34 MLAs and the BJP with independents has 28. If more BJP MLAs are disqualified, then the Congress stands to gain.

Meanwhile the BJP has also questioned the CM Sukhvinder Sukhu for the rollout of a monthly financial aid of Rs 1,500 to all women in the 18-60 age group.

BJP leader Jairam Thakur said, "The Chief Minister announced a while ago to give 1500 rupees to women Nearly 6 days ago the budget was passed and 15 BJP MLAs were expelled, you know in what conditions they have passed the budget. What is the logic of doing this big announcement within six days of passing the budget"?

Thankur said that the state government failed to fulfill the guarantees made to the people of the state. He said now the Chief minister is misleading the women of state.

"He said all women in the state will get 1500 rupees starting from April 1st , at the same time he said that 5 Lakh women will get benefit from this and 800crore rupees will be spent which is against the actual figure. There are nearly 38 Lakh women in the state as per their guarantee there are 22 Lakh women and he has announced it for 5 Lakh women but it is clear that he will be giving it to those women who are getting social security pension, there are 7 Lakh people in the state under social security pension and it includes 4 Lakh women, It is another lie And they have named it as Indira Gandhi Pyari Behna Sukh Samman Yojanam," Jairam Thakur said.

"This has been done just ahead of Lok Sabha polls and there is a fear of election in congress government. He knows that the Model Code of Conduct will be implemented just nearing the new financial year. In one month it would be over 320 crore a month and for a year it would be nearly. 4000 crore rupees but they say that it would be 800 crore rupees annual. This is again a lie and women of the state are being deceived," added BJP leader Jai Ram Thakur.

For the Sukhvinder Sukhu government there still appear to be dark clouds ahead as he would need to quell dissent from state Congress president Pratibha Singh and her son MLA Vikramaditya Singh. Sukhu also needs to hold the rest of the Congress MLAs together to ensure his survival.