Eleven Himachal Pradesh MLAs, including six rebels and three independents, reached BJP-ruled Uttarakhand, an indication of the ongoing infighting within the state Congress.
According to reports, the group alighted from a heavily guarded bus with Haryana number plates and reached Taj Hotel in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand on Saturday.
This comes two days after Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu visited Delhi to meet top Congress leaders. According to reports, this visit is regarding the recent political developments in the state and preparations for the Lok Sabha elections.
The six rebel MLAs disqualified from the assembly under the anti-defection law were Sudhir Sharma, Rajinder Rana, Davinder K Bhutto, Ravi Thakur, Chaitanya Sharma and Inder Dutt Lakhanpal. After the 2022 assembly elections, the Congress has 40 MLAs in the 68-member state assembly, while the BJP has 25 MLAs. The remaining three seats are held by independents.
These rebel MLAs have done cross voting in the Rajya Sabha elections. In the recent Rajya Sabha elections, BJP, which has only 25 MLAs, managed to get 9 additional votes.
Asked if he was in touch with the rebel MLAs, Sukhu said, “I am working for the welfare of the people. My council of ministers and MLAs are busy with that. No MLA has contacted me.”
BJP trying to topple the government: Sukhu
Meanwhile, he criticized the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which was apparently trying to topple his government by keeping the rebel Congress MLAs under tight security cover of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).
Sukhu said that his family members were pressurizing him to return to his home state.
“I have just learned through social media that they (rebel MLAs) were taken from the hotel in Panchkula and flown on a charter plane from Chandigarh airport. I don’t know where it will land. This is because their families They were being pressured to return,” Sukhu said.
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Published: 09 March 2024, 01:27 PM IST
