Amid the political crisis in Himachal Pradesh, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said that the conspiracy by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to bring down the Congress government in the hill state has failed. “The way they conspired to topple power in Himachal Pradesh with the CRPF, the Haryana Police, by sending helicopters has failed. The way they lured some MLAs by buying them has led to some MLAs siding with them. We’ve brought disqualification motion against them (Congress MLAs who voted for BJP candidate in Rajya Sabha polls) and hearing for the same is underway,” Sukhu said speaking to reporters on Wednesday.
Assuring that the Congress government will complete its tenure of five years, Sukhu said, “In democracy, the truth wins. The truth has won. Our MLAs passed the budget today. We want to thank everyone. The conspiracy to topple our government has been foiled and our government will surely complete five years.” Sukhu expressed gratitude to all of his MLAs who refrained from taking advantage of the financial benefits the BJP had promised when speaking about the strategies used by the party.
“The paramilitary, CRPF was coming inside the Assembly. How is this possible in a democracy? This is our Assembly. They methods they are taking for political gains is deplorable. They were even trying to buy our MLAs over night by offering crores of money. I would like to thank all those MLAs who have showed the strength of unity,” the Chief Minister said. Rubbishing claims of the Leader of Opposition Jairam Thakur that the Chief Minister should resign, Sukhu said, “I have heard several rumours that Jairam Thakur is asking for my resignation. How can Jairam Thakur take Congress party’s decision?”
Speaking about one of the MLAs who had crossvoted in the Rajya Sabha elections on Tuesday which led to BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan winning the lone Upper House seat in the state, the Chief Minister said that he has apologised. “One of the MLAs (who voted for BJP candidate in RS polls) has asked for forgiveness since he has betrayed the party…I don’t want to take his name. He said that he has erred in his decision. The hearing of the case on disqualification will start at 4 pm,” Sukhu said.
On the ruckus in the Assembly by the BJP legislators, the Chief Minister said that the hill state has never seen such hooliganism. “They fought with the Speaker’s marshalls, with the Speaker. We have showed discipline. We decided to marshall them out since the Speaker’s orders need to be followed. How they were misbehaving in the Assembly. Such hooliganism should not be allowed in the Assembly. Himachal has not seen such scenes. Himachal is a state of gods and godessess. It is a state where democracy has been strengthened,” Sukhu said.
On the rebel Congress MLAs who crossvoted in favour of the BJP Rajya Sabha candidate, Sukhu said, “The way they have betrayed the people, I think in the coming times people will give them an answer.” The Himachal Prashesh Chief Minister also announced that state Minister Vikramaditya Singh’s resignation has not been accepted by the Congress party and talks are on to address his discontent.
“I have spoken with Vikramaditya Singh and he is my younger brother. There is no reason to accept his resignation. He has some grievances that will be solved. I have spoken to him briefly during the Budget session now but the Speaker had arrived by then…,” Sukhu said. Earlier in the day, the Speaker said that the suspended members who created a ruckus in the Assembly were sitting in the house against the Rules and had entered forcefully in the Assembly.
The BJP also staged a walk out as the issue of disqualification of MLAs was not heard in the Assembly.
