New Delhi:

The Congress began Wednesday with its government in Himachal Pradesh – one of only three states it controls – teetering on the edge, after a shock (though not entirely unexpected) defeat in yesterday’s Rajya Sabha election. The reason, as claimed, was. His majority in the House was destroyed.

Congress concludes Wednesday with unlikely stay of executions; It retains power for now, at least until after the general elections which will last two-three months – owing to the opposition BJP’s strategic expulsion of 15 MLAs today, including Leader of Opposition Jairam Thakur, and the passing of the state budget. Has gone.

The 15 people were expelled soon after the budget session of the assembly began, apparently for sloganeering and misconduct, including barging into the Speaker’s chamber, allegations against which the ruling BJP at the Center regularly targets the opposition. MPs have been expelled or suspended.

“BJP members were not on their seats… they raised slogans and were trying to create an atmosphere where they could attack me. I asked them to sit but they did not listen,” the Speaker said.

#Watch , Shimla: On the suspension of 15 MLAs from Himachal Pradesh Assembly, Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania says, “The proposal was brought by the Parliamentary Affairs Minister. Because what happened yesterday was unexpected… BJP members were not on their seats… They … pic.twitter.com/PNVRikoGoW

– ANI (@ANI) 28 February 2024

How did expelling 15 rival MLAs help Congress?

This gave the embattled ruling party a working majority in the Assembly and allowed the state budget to be passed without any contest as the remaining 10 BJP MLAs walked out in protest.

“The budget was passed today, and the conspiracy to topple our government has been foiled. Our government will complete five years…” a grim-faced Chief Minister Sukhwinder Sukhu said.

By passing the Budget, the Chief Minister has saved his government from any immediate test, especially as the BJP will now have to file a legal challenge to counter the expulsion of its MLAs by Speaker Kuldeep Pathania, and one can be sure That a solution will be found. Congress.

Mr Sukhu also underlined his determination to deal with this turmoil.

Read |“Did not resign”: Himachal CM dismisses rumours.

Accusing the BJP of ‘spreading rumours’ to break the party, he said, “Neither has anyone asked for my resignation nor have I submitted my resignation to anyone.” We will prove our majority. We will win…”

Shri Thakur termed passing the budget without opposition as a strategic move.

“The BJP has 25 MLAs. This number increased to 34 after the voting in the Rajya Sabha (Mr Thakur is counting here on the six Congress MLAs who have not yet officially joined the BJP and three independent MLAs) .This created a threat. They had to pass the budget somehow, otherwise the government would fall,” he said.

Read | Congress lost majority in Himachal: Jairam Thakur

“For this they had to reduce the number of BJP MLAs. 15 including me have been suspended. We were suspended to save the Congress government. After our suspension they passed the budget.”

Expelling the BJP MLAs was a pre-emptive attack on the Congress over its plan to force a floor test. With the removal of 15 MPs from the 68-member House, the majority figure has come down to just 27.

NDTV explains. Congress or BJP? Who has the lead in Himachal Pradesh?

Even with the potential loss of six MLAs, the Congress – which cross-voted in Tuesday’s Rajya Sabha election that started all this ruckus – had enough to push through the no-confidence motion.

The party won 40 seats in the 2022 elections.

Of course, he was assuming that he would never lose his strength.

In any case, that possibility was never tested, because the Congress state unit’s uncharacteristically decisive move took the BJP by surprise, and allowed it to buy crucial time to regroup.

The party has responded by calling three senior leaders – Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar and former chief ministers of Haryana and Chhattisgarh, Bhupinder Hooda and Bhupesh Baghel – to calm the situation.

Senior leader Jairam Ramesh said the priority is to ensure that the party’s government remains intact.

with inputs from agencies

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