 "Congress")
The Political atmosphere in Himachal Pradesh continues to be charged as leader of Opposition Jairam Thakur on Tuesday claimed that Congress has lost the majority in Himachal Pradesh.
"It has been proved that Congress has lost the majority in Himachal Pradesh. There is not just one but many evidences in this regard. Notices are being given to 7 BJP MLAs through the Privileges Committee. It is being done to disqualify them from the Assembly and to reduce the strength of the opposition... We are examining it legally...The truth is that the CM and his government should accept that they do not have the majority...'' said Himachal Pradesh Leader of Opposition Jairam Thakur.
However, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu denied to comment on the claim made by Leader of Opposition Jairam Thakur stating that he is not aware of the matter.
Earlier, Himachal Pradesh Leader of Opposition Jairam Thakur on Monday claimed that Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led Congress government in Himachal Pradesh is trying to disqualify BJP's seven MLAs to save the Congress government in the state.
"I would like to say that there is instability in the government and the Chief Minister is trying to save the government in the state, they are trying to move forward towards the disqualification of more members of BJP" said Himachal Pradesh Leader of Opposition Jairam Thakur.
On February 28, the Himachal Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania had suspended 15 BJP MLAs from the house for allegedly causing ruckus in the speakers' chamber
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On February 29, the Speaker then disqualified the six Congress MLAs who cross voted in the Rajya Sabha polls. The six MLAs who had been disqualified were Sudhir Sharma, Rajinder Rana, Davinder K Bhutto, Ravi Thakur, Chaitanya Sharma and Inder Dutt Lakhanpal under the anti-defection law.
After the 2022 Assembly elections, the Congress had 40 MLAs, while the BJP had 25 in the 68-member state assembly. The remaining three seats are held by independents.
With the six rebel MLAs disqualified the strength of the house comes down from 68 to 62 and the halfway mark is 32. With the loss of 6 MLAs the Congress now has 34 MLAs and the BJP with independents has 28. If more BJP MLAs are disqualified, then the Congress stands to gain.
Meanwhile, Vikramaditya Singh on Tuesday left from Chandigarh for Shimla after meeting with the six disqualified Congress MLAs. The Congress MLA refused to answer questions on the nature of his conversations with the rebel MLAs. State Congress President Pratibha Singh had backed the rebels saying their concerns were genuine.
For the Sukhvinder Sukhu government there still appear to be dark clouds ahead as he would need to quell dissent from state Congress president Pratibha Singh and her son MLA Vikramaditya Singh. Sukhu also needs to hold the rest of the Congress MLAs together to ensure his survival.
