Shimla:
Amidst the political crisis in Himachal Pradesh, Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu on Friday expressed confidence that his government will last for 5 years.
Mr Sukhu also accused Jairam Thakur of trying to run ‘Operation Lotus’ since coming to power in the state.
He said, “Our government will last for 5 years… Jairam Thakur has been busy in ‘Operation Lotus’ since the day I became the CM of the state. “Nobody should be so power-hungry,” he said. People have elected our government and we will remain in power for five years.
Earlier in the day, Mr Sukhu said he would welcome rebel Congress MLAs who wanted to come back to the Congress, but would not take any coercive steps.
He said, “When he has made up his mind, he can come and we will welcome him. Forcing someone is not in the culture of Himachal. Hooliganism is not in the culture of Himachal.”
The six MLAs disqualified after cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha elections are Sudhir Sharma, Rajinder Rana, Davinder K Bhutto, Ravi Thakur, Chaitanya Sharma and Inder Dutt Lakhanpal.
Cross voting led to a surprise victory for BJP’s Rajya Sabha candidate from Himachal Pradesh, Harsh Mahajan.
Meanwhile, Vikramaditya Singh, who on Wednesday withdrew his resignation from the post of minister in the state, continued to raise speculations over whether the top Congress leadership would be in power.
After the 2022 assembly elections, the Congress has 40 MLAs in the 68-member state assembly, while the BJP has 25 MLAs. The remaining three seats are held by independents.
With the disqualification of six rebel MLAs, the strength of the House has reduced from 68 to 62, and the halfway mark is 32. With the loss of 6 MLAs, Congress now has 34 MLAs and with the addition of independent MLAs, BJP has 28 MLAs. The Congress will now depend on its ability to keep its remaining group together.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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