New Delhi, February 28: The BJP’s cliffhanger win in Himachal Pradesh Rajya Sabha elections on Tuesday has destabilised the Congress government, with the opposition saying that the Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukku has lost majority in the assembly to remain in power.
Himachal Pradesh Leader of Opposition Jairam Thakur along with BJP’s legislative party met Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla at Raj Bhawan in Shimla on Wednesday morning and later told the media that his party fears that the Speaker will not accept their demand for a division of vote ahead of passing budget since they lost numbers in the House.
“We fear that the budget will be passed today after suspending the BJP MLAs. The Speaker is not allowing us to give our side of the story. All he is trying to do is save the government,” Thakur remarked.
As a damage control exercise, Congress has issued show causes to 6 rebel Himachal MLAs asking them why action may not be taken against them for voting for the rival BJP candidate, said party officials. They have been asked to reply by the evening.
At the same time, Congress MLAs have been moved to a Haryana resort to avoid their poaching by the BJP. An AICC delegation of two members – former Haryana CM Bupender Hodda and DK Shivkumar -- are reaching Shimla to assess the ground situation and explore possibility whether a change of guard could save the Congress government in the hill state.
BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan defeated Congress nominee and senior Supreme Court lawyer Dr Abhishek Manu Shinghvi after a tie in the voting after six ruling party legislators cross voted.
Harsh Mahajan claimed today that the BJP is going to form government in the state since some more MLAs of Congress are in touch with them. “I got phone calls from some of their MLAs and ministers...The situation is going to change in the next few hours and you will see BJP will form its govt soon,” he stated.
Mahajan claimed that the people are upset with the Sukhu government and that’s why all good leaders are joining BJP.
The BJP has not only benefited from cross-voting in Himachal, but it also managed to outwit the Samajwadi Party sweeping 8 of 10 seats in Uttar Pradesh. It was, however, a victim of rebellion during the Rajya Sabha polls in Karnataka.
All three candidates of Congress won the elections in Karnataka after two BJP MLAs unhappy with the party voted against political allegiance. The BJP managed to win the fourth seat, taking its tally to 10 out of 15 Rajya Sabha seats that went to polls on Tuesday.
With the latest round of victories, the BJP’s tally in Rajya Sabha has reached 119, including five nominated MPs who joined the party which is two short of the majority mark in the Upper House. Next to the BJP comes Congress which has 29 members in Rajya Sabha.