Shimla: In a hectic parley of opposition, the BJP MLA met with Himachal Pradesh Governor Shiv Partap Shukla at Rajbhavan early on Wednesday.
The BJP legislative party leaders, including former BJP president Satpal Singh Sati, Leader of Opposition Jairam Thakur, senior members of the legislative assembly Anil Sharma, Randhir Sharma, Hans Raj, and others, met Governor at around 0730 hrs.
The party spokesperson said the BJP MLA demanded a division of votes in the house on the financial bill.
In a late-night political high-voltage drama, six Congress MLAs, including Rajinder Rana, Sudhir Sharma, Ravi Thakur, Inderdut Lakhanpal, Chetnya Sharma, and Devinder Bhuto, were reported to have violated the Assembly whip Thursday as they didn’t remain in the assembly during discussion on the financial bill and the quorum of the house was not complete.
The speaker adjourned the assembly after lunch in the high-voltage drama on Tuesday, and the latter assembly adjourned for the afternoon.
It was learned from Congress sources in the CLP that a group of six members indulged in cross-voting in the Rajyasabha election, resulting in defeat if the party candidate was not present in the house and there was no Congress legislative party meeting on Tuesday.
The chief minister said six MLAs who didn’t take part in the CLP meeting on Tuesday would face action for violating the party whip.
In the evening, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu announced that the BJP has kidnapped a group of six MLAs, and they were kept in the tight security lookup in Panchkula under the control of Haryana Police and Central Paramilitary Forces.
The Director General of Police Sanjay Kundu also increased the security cordon in the capital town as four reserved police battalions were requisitioned from IRBN Junga, Gariwala, Sakoh, and Pandoh to be deployed at Vidhan Sabha and in the town.
It is apparent that after RS polling crossed over in the state on Tuesday, the majority of 40 members of Congress having external support from three independent MLAs reduced to 34. The BJP wanted to topple the Congress government on the financial bill during the two-day budget session, and they are seeking division of votes in the house frequently and also met with the governor to demand division of votes, but interestingly, they didn’t bring confidence motions.
The BJP is in touch with six MLAs and three Independents, but they are still short of a simple majority of 35 in the state assembly.
Now the current assembly session has to discuss the cut motions with the 32 heads of government of Himachal Pradesh and pass the 2024–25 budget bill during the remaining two days of the session.
