Leader of the Opposition in Himachal and BJP leader Jai Ram Thakur slams the ruling government Congress saying the grand old party has lost the majority in the state. The former chief minister claimed that BJP governments would be formed at the Centre as well as in the state after June 4. The counting for the ongoing seven-phase Lok Sabha elections will be conducted on June 4.
Talking to media persons at Dharamshala in Himachal's Kangra district, Thakur said there is a possibility of byelections in nine assembly seats of the state. He said byelections for six seats have been announced while the remaining three could be announced as three independent MLAs have resigned from the Vidhan Sabha.
"If elections are held in all the nine assembly seats along with the Lok Sabha polls on June 1 and the BJP wins, the Congress party would come in a minority," Thakur said.
All the nine legislators, including six Congress rebels and three Independents who had voted in favour of the BJP in the February 27 Rajya Sabha polls, had joined the BJP on March 23.
The six Congress rebels who were disqualified for defying a whip to be present in the assembly and vote in favour of the government during the cut motions and the budget have been given tickets by the BJP from their respective constituencies. The three independents - Hoshiyar Singh from Dehra, Ashish Sharma from Hamirpur, and K L Thakur from Nalagarh- submitted their resignation from the assembly on March 22.
However, their resignation has not been accepted yet. The Vidhan Sabha has sought an explanation from these MLAs till April 10 following a representation from the Congress legislative party that these MLAs quit under duress and not voluntarily. With the disqualification of the six Congress MLAs, the strength of the ruling party has come down from 40 to 34, including the Speaker who can vote only in the case of a tie during a floor test, in the 68-member assembly. The BJP has 25 members in the House.
According to the rules, if a member of the legislative assembly resigns personally to the Speaker, it should be accepted without any delay, he said, and added that "maybe the Speaker is under pressure from the Congress government and Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu".
"But this is not right... We are also taking legal opinion on the matter," he said.
Meanwhile, actor Kangana Ranaut, the BJP candidate from the Mandi Lok Sabha seat, on Tuesday visited the Drang and Balh assembly segments of Mandi district and held introductory meetings with the BJP workers and leaders. She was accompanied by former BJP minister Suresh Bhardwaj.
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