Three Independent MLAs Resign From Himachal Pradesh Assembly, To Join BJP

Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) [India]: Three independent MLAs resigned from the Himachal Pradesh State Assembly on Friday. Their resignations come days after they voted for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate in the recently held Rajya Sabha polls in the state.

The MLAs who tendered their resignations to Assembly Secretary Yashpal Sharma also met Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla at the Raj Bhavan here.

The MLAs include KL Thakur from Nalagarh, Hoshiyar Singh from Dehra and Ashish Sharma from the Hamirpur assembly seat. There are reports that these MLAS will be joining the BJP.

"We have tendered our resignation for the sake of the state, the people. If the MLAs are not safe, if their families are not safe...all these have forced us to come to this decision," Hoshiyar Singh told reporters after his resignation.

On being asked whether they would be joining the BJP, Singh said, "All of us will be joining."
Responding to allegations levelled by Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu that MLAs are being sold off to the BJP, Singh said, "Let him (Sukhu) prove that. Let him speak about his incapability about why six of his MLAs left him."

Leader of Opposition in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly Jairam Thakur said that the MLAs assured that they were not acting under any pressure and wanted to join the BJP.

"Three independent MLAs came here to tender their resignation to the Vidhan Sabha Speaker. He was not present. So they handed over their resignation to the Secretary.

They assured that they were not under any pressure. It is necessary to give them strength under the leadership of PM Modi. They want to join the BJP," the former Chief Minister told media.

Speaking about the future prospects of these MLAs who will shortly join the BJP, Thakur said, "All of them will be working for the Lok Sabha elections, like all other MLAs."

The resignation of these three independent MLAs will lead to three more by elections, other than those of the six already announced which was necessitated after the disqualification of the six Congress MLAs earlier.

For the Lok Sabha polls, Himachal Pradesh will vote on June 1. The hill state has four parliamentary constituencies. The BJP won all four seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.