Major Blow To Congress As 6 Rebel MLAs Of Himachal Pradesh Join BJP

Six rebel MLAs of Himachal Congress joined the Bharatiya Janata Party today in the presence of state party President Rajiv Bindal and Union Minister Anurag Thakur.

Six rebel MLAs of Himachal Congress join BJP.

Source : X/@ANI

The problems for Congress seem far from over as the grand old party suffers another setback after the six rebel MLAs —Sudhir Sharma, Ravi Thakur, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Devendra Bhutto, Rajendra Rana, and Chaitanya Sharma, joined BJP in the presence of Himachal Pradesh BJP President Rajiv Bindal and Union Minister Anurag Thakur.

#WATCH | Six rebel MLAs of Himachal Pradesh- Sudhir Sharma, Ravi Thakur, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Devendra Bhutto, Rajendra Rana, and Chaitanya Sharma, join BJP in the presence of Himachal Pradesh BJP President Rajiv Bindal and Union Minister Anurag Thakur. pic.twitter.com/IftAl6U1T5

— ANI (@ANI) March 23, 2024

Three independent MLAs who voted in favour of the Bhartiya Janata Party during the Rajya Sabha elections last month, are likely to join the saffron party on Saturday.

3 Independent Himachal MLAs Resign From Assembly, To Join BJP

Training their guns on CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, the three independent MLAs—Ashish Sharma (Hamirpur constituency), Hoshiyar Singh (Dehra constituency), and K L Thakur (Nalagarh constituency) on March 22, submitted their resignations to the Himachal Pradesh Assembly secretary Yash Paul Sharma in the presence of former CM and senior BJP leader Jairam Thakur and other BJP MLAs.

After resigning, Hoshiyar Singh stated: "We will join the BJP and contest elections on its ticket." 

Talking about voting for BJP during the Rajya Sabha polls, Singh stated: "Our conscience did not allow voting for an outsider -- Congress candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi -- in the Rajya Sabha election and it was our right to vote per our wish."

He also stated that the state government has started a politics of vendetta after the result of the Rajya Sabha polls. 

"Under these circumstances, we have decided to resign. We will join BJP and contest elections on BJP ticket under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP national president J P Nadda and strengthen the nation as well as the stated," PTI quoted him saying.

Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania confirmed receiving their resignation letters and stated: "The Independent MLAs have submitted their resignation and have not cited the reason. The necessary procedure would be followed in the matter."

All three independent MLAs had sought tickets from the saffron party during the 2022 Assembly polls but they were denied, as a result of which they contested independently.

However, as Congress later formed a government with 40 legislators, the three independent MLAs supported the grand old party's government. 

The independent MLAs also hit out at CM Sukhu claiming that he had "stooped to such a level" that he was "targeting them and their families" by registering false cases against them, PTI reported.

CM Sukhu's Remarks On Independent MLAs' Resignation

Meanwhile, CM Sukhu stated that the independent MLAs should not have resigned and should have instead respected people's mandate. "It is a matter of probe whether money was involved in the whole episode or the MLAs were pressured," Sukhu stated.

The Election Commission of India announced that the by-elections in the six assembly seats that are now vacat after the rebel Congress legislators were disqualified will be held along with four Lok Sabha seats in the seventh phase on June 1.