Congress govt in Himachal hangs in the balance after RS polls; Priyanka Gandhi accused BJP of 'horse-trading, crushing rights of people'

Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) [India], February 28 : Cross-voting by six Himachal Pradesh's Congress MLAs for the lone Rajya Sabha seat and the resignation of Vikramaditya Singh from the council of ministers have deepened the crisis for Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led Congress government in the hill state.
The two back-to-back events have once again brought to the fore the rift between the Congress and the BJP, which claims to have a majority in the House.
The BJP has said that the Rajya Sabha results show that the Sukhu-led Congress government has lost its majority, whereas the CM has claimed to remain in power with a majority.
Himachal Pradesh Leader of Opposition Jairam Thakur said that the state CM should resign from his post on moral grounds.
"Congress does not have a majority and they cannot pass the budget, so they suspended 15 BJP MLAs without any reason. They will now try to pass the budget, but it will be against the rules. If he (CM Sukhu) has even a little bit of morality left, then he should resign..." he said.
He further said that the action of the Assembly Speaker, Kuldeep Singh Pathania, to suspend 15 BJP MLAs is 'condemnable'.
"We went to meet the Governor in the morning today and I said that since Congress does not have the majority to pass the budget in the Assembly, the Speaker will suspend BJP MLAs. Today, as soon as we entered the Assembly, 15 BJP MLAs were suspended and were taken out of the Assembly by the marshals. This is highly condemnable..." he said.
Thakur met Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla on Wednesday morning. As many as 15 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs of Himachal Pradesh were suspended from the House by Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania on Wednesday allegedly for creating ruckus in his chamber.
The 15 BJP MLA's who were suspended from the House include 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.
The BJP legislators were suspended by the Speaker after State Parliamentary Party Affairs Minister Harshwardhan Chauhan moved a proposal recommending the expulsion of the MLAs from the house.
On being asked about 6 Congress MLAs and 3 independent MLAs, Himachal Pradesh LoP Jairam Thakur said, "They have voted for BJP's candidate during the Rajya Sabha elections. They are with us. There can be many others..."
While Jairam Thakur claimed that Sukhu has resigned from the post, the Himachal CM said that he will fight like a warrior and will not take any steps behind.
"This government has lost all the moral rights to stay in power. As far as I have been informed, CM Sukhu has also presented his resignation inside the House. Maybe the high command has asked him, but I am not sure..." Thakur said.
Sukhu on Wednesday, however, refuted the reports of him resigning from the post, saying that he has not tendered his resignation and will prove the majority in the House.
"Neither anyone asked for my resignation nor have I presented my resignation to anyone. We will prove the majority. We will win, the people of Himachal will win... I am not someone who will get scared and I can say this with guarantee that Congress is going to win when the budget is presented. The budget will be passed today. BJP is spreading rumours of my resignation. Congress is united. I am a warrior and will fight like that," Sukhu said.
Meanwhile, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra slammed the BJP, saying that the party that 'did not stand with the state during natural disaster, is now pushing it into the political one'.
"In democracy, the general public has the right to choose the government of their choice. The people of Himachal used this right and formed the Congress government with a clear majority. But the BJP wants to crush this right of the people of Himachal by misusing the power of money, agencies and the Centre. The way the BJP is using government security and machinery for this purpose is unprecedented in the history of the country. The BJP, which did not stand with the people of the state during the natural disaster, now wants to push the state into political disaster," Priyanka said.
She further said that if a party with 25 MLAs is challenging the majority of 43 MLAs, then it clearly means that 'it is dependent on the horse-trading of representatives'.
"This attitude of the BJP is unethical and unconstitutional. The people of Himachal and the country are watching everything," she added.
Taking a swipe at the Congress, Union Minister Anurag Thakur said that the people of Himachal were not ready to accept an 'outsider' as the Rajya Sabha candidate of Congress.
"No matter how much injustice they (Congress) do, it is of no use. One thing is clear, the people of Himachal were not ready to accept an outsider as the Rajya Sabha candidate for Congress, even their own MLAs were not ready to accept this. They used the moment to show their anger... What the Speaker did was inappropriate...if they don't have numbers, they themselves gave the first example of it," Thakur said.
Though the Congress enjoys an outright majority in the Assembly that should have won Singhvi the seat, the BJP forced an election by nominating former Congress leader Harsh Mahajan as its candidate.
In the voting on Tuesday, the BJP, which has just 25 MLAs, managed to secure 9 additional votes. The vote thus ended in a 34-34 tie, with three Independents and six Congress MLAs cross-voting for the BJP. Mahajan ended up winning after the result was decided with a draw of lots.
Amid the political turmoil, Congress leaders and observers for Himachal Pradesh, DK Shivakumar and Bhupinder Singh Hooda, rushed to Shimla on Wednesday to parley with members of the party, which is facing a loss of support and risks losing power in the state.
Shivakumar in a post on X, expressed his confidence that Congress rebel MLAs will stay 'loyal' to the party and stay put with the mandate that has been accorded to them
"As per the directions of the Congress high command, I am reaching Himachal Pradesh. Also there is absolutely no need to indulge in any hearsay, as I am confident that Congress Party legislators will be loyal to the party and stay put with the mandate that has been accorded to them," Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister said.
In fresh trouble for the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh, Vikramaditya Singh, a state minister and the son of the former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh on Wednesday stepped down from his position.
"All I would like to say is that under the current circumstances, it is not correct for me to continue as a part of the government. So, I have decided that I am resigning from the Council of Ministers. I am resigning as a minister," Singh said.