Former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Saturday again demanded convening of a special session of the Assembly and said his Congress party will move a no-confidence motion against the BJP-JJP government.
“The government has lost the support of the people and many MLAs backing it,” the Leader of Opposition in Haryana said in a statement here.
Hooda said that he has requested the Governor to convene a special session of the Assembly “as the government is not wanting a session of the House because it wants to avoid facing a no-confidence motion”.
He claimed Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had earlier said there was no need to call a special session of the Assembly and that the Opposition did not have any specific issue to raise.
Hooda said “today the farmers of the state are protesting on roads all over Haryana and at Delhi borders. Every day one of the agitators sitting under the open sky is dying due to the bitter cold. In such a situation, we ask if the state government does not consider such a big agitation of farmers as an issue?” “Does the government not consider the martyrdom of farmers an issue that merits a discussion? What can be a bigger issue for the government,” he asked.
Hooda reiterated his stand of bringing a no-confidence motion against the government in the Assembly, saying “many Independent MLAs have withdrawn support from the government”.
Two Independent MLAs — Sombir Sangwan and Balraj Kundu — have withdrawn support to the state government, while many of the 10 legislators of the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) have openly come out in support of the farmers protesting against the Centre’s three farm laws.
“In this battle between the farmers and the government, many legislators of coalition partner JJP have also spoken in support of the farmers. It is clear that the BJP-JJP coalition government has lost not only support from the public, but also the confidence of its own legislators,” Hooda said. “If a motion of no confidence comes in the legislative Assembly, then their allies in the government itself will vote against the government. That is why we have demanded a special session from the Governor. The government fears that many legislators will vote against it if a motion of no confidence comes and is avoiding a special session,” he claimed.
Recently, Hooda had claimed that some MLAs were playing a “double role” — making statements against the government but are continuing to support the government.
“This will make it clear who stands with the farmers,” he had said, referring to the planned no-trust motion.
At present, the Khattar government enjoys a comfortable majority in the 90-member State Assembly.
The BJP has 40 MLAs and its ally JJP 10. There are 31 Congress MLAs and one each from the Indian National Lok Dal and Haryana Lokhit Party.
Seven members are Independents, out of whom five, including Power Minister Ranjit Singh Chautala, support the ruling combine.
Thousands of farmers are protesting at Delhi’s borders for a month now, demanding repeal of the three agri-marketing laws enacted in September.
