Rebel Congress MLA Rajinder Rana on March 2 claimed that nine more party legislators "feeling suffocated" due to Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu's style of functioning are in touch with him as he called the CM "liar number one".
Mr. Rana along with five other Congress MLAs, who had cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha polls, have been disqualified from the Assembly for abstaining from voting on the Cut Motion and Finance Bill.
Ministers walk out
Meanwhile, high drama prevailed during the Himachal Pradesh Cabinet meeting on March 2 as Ministers Jagat Negi and Rohit Thakur left midway following a "heated debate" over policy decisions, sources said.
Mr. Rana termed Sukhu "liar number one" and alleged that he was trying to twist the facts.
"Neither Public Works Department Minister Vikramaditya Singh had told the Chief Minister that he is meeting the Congress rebels at Panchkula nor the CM had sent him," Mr. Rana said.
"Vikramaditya Singh, who met us on his way to Delhi, did not ask us to patch up. He has his grievances against the government which failed to provide land for installing Virbhadra Singh's statue and interfered in his functioning," he added.
Mr. Sukhu on Friday said he gave the go-ahead to Mr. Vikramaditya Singh to meet the rebels who cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha polls, in what appeared to be a placatory gesture even as he called the same six MLAs “black serpents”.
In a setback for the ruling Congress in H.P., the BJP on Tuesday won the State's lone Rajya Sabha seat despite being in the minority with just 25 MLAs against 40 of the Congress as nine MLAs, including six from the Congress and three independents, voted for BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan.
Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania had on Thursday disqualified six Congress MLAs namely Sudhir Sharma, Ravi Thakur, Rajinder Rana, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Chetanya Sharma and Devinder Kumar Bhutto for abstaining from voting on the Cut Motion and the Finance Bill.
After cross-voting by the rebels in the Rajya Sabha polls, Mr. Vikramaditya Singh had announced his resignation from the Cabinet on Wednesday but softened his stand by the evening after meeting the observers, who said that the resignation had been withdrawn.
‘Cong. MLAs suffocated’
"More MLAs are coming and the Congress government is going," as Congress MLAs are feeling suffocated by the dictatorial style of functioning of Chief Minister Sukhu, who has put Himachal Pradesh on the back gear, said Mr. Rana, who had changed the political scenario in the State by defeating former CM P.K. Dhumal in the 2017 Assembly election.
Friends of the CM are allegedly running the government and the elected representatives, especially the Ministers, are "suffocated and humiliated", Mr. Rana said.
Besides the six Congress and three independents who cross-voted in favour of the BJP in the Rajya Sabha election, nine more Congress MLAs are in touch with us, he claimed.
Referring to the "black snakes" remark of the Chief Minister, Mr. Rana said that the CM has "lost his mental balance" and his claims that the government is stable is false. He asked if the Chief minister is sure of his majority, why the security of some Congress MLAs has been beefed up and alleged that efforts are on to "lure" the MLAs.
Amid the Congress' woes, Revenue Minister Jagat Negi and Education Minister Rohit Thakur on Saturday walked out of the Cabinet meeting being chaired by Mr. Sukhu after a "heated debate" over policy decisions, sources said. Mr. Thakur, however, returned after allegedly being pacified by Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri, they said.
Later, Mr. Negi said the meeting started at 12.30 p.m. instead of the scheduled time of 11 a.m. and clashed with another engagement that he had. Mr. Negi said he left as he was getting late.
Addressing media persons, Mr. Thakur said he left the meeting briefly to meet someone but later went back.
