"Majority is still with Congress": Himachal Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania

Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) [India], February 28 : Himachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania said on Wednesday that the Parliamentary Affairs Minister has filed a petition against the six Congress MLAs who cross voted in the Rajya Sabha polls, adding that the majority is still with the Congress Party.
The Congress government in the state faces a crisis after six MLAs crossed sides and are learnt to be in touch 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.
Referring to this, the Speaker said, "The Parliamentary Affairs Minister has filed a petition against the six MLAs of the Congress party because the anti-defection law attracts proceedings against them. When the petition came to me, then I, as a Speaker, had to function like a tribunal. The hearing regarding the same is underway".
"And the majority is still with the Congress Party as even if the number is reduced to six, out of 40, 34 are left, and they (BJP) are 25. If the three independents are added, there are still 28," he added.
Reacting to the suspension of 15 BJP MLAs for alleged misbehaviour in the House, the speaker said that the MLAs were trying to create an atmosphere where they could attack him.
"The proposal was brought by the Parliamentary Affairs Minister. Because what happened yesterday was unexpected. The BJP members were not in their seats. They started raising slogans after the House was adjourned. They were trying to create an atmosphere where they could attack me. I requested that they sit, but they didn't listen. Everything is on record," he said.
Meanwhile, Vikramaditya Singh, a state minister and the son of the former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, stepped down from his position on Wednesday.
"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.
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 the 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 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.
The 15 BJP MLAs 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.
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 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.
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.