The nine MLAs, including three independents and six disqualified Congress MLAs, who voted in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the recent Rajya Sabha elections slammed Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and said he should introspect and realise who is responsible for the current situation in the state.
The legislators asked Sukhu to come clear on his official visits to Chandigarh, in which he stayed at a five-star hotel rather than his designated room in Himachal Bhawan.
In a joint statement issued, the MLAs said that they are fighting a battle of self-respect. The MLAs lashed out at Sukhu and questioned his mindset, saying that he is approaching them for compromise on the one hand and issuing statements like black snakes and shepherds on the other.
The MLAs also questioned the reason behind sending security back from the five-star hotel and asked him to tell the public about his hidden agenda. They stated that the MLAs were feeling suffocated and humiliated in the government as the chief minister prefers his friends over all others, and the circle of friends was dominating the MLAs.
The people of the state also know very well what "cabinet rank friends" are doing in this government and how much loot they have created, the statement added.
During public meetings, the Himachal CM said that six black snakes of the Congress sold their honour and tried to destabilise the state government, and later compared them to shepherds being moved from one place to another. The nine MLAs include six Congress rebels, Sudhir Sharma, Ravi Thakur, Rajinder Rana, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Chetanya Sharma, and Devinder Kumar Bhutto, and three independents, Ashish Sharma, Hoshiyar Singh, and K L Thakur.