Upheaval in Himachal politics: BJP’s Unusual Triumph in The State, Congress in Shambles – Everything You Need To Know
Image Source: The Hindu
The Congress-led Himachal saw a complete political turnabout on Tuesday as the BJP emerged victorious on the lone Rajya Sabha seat, dethroning the Congress juggernaut Singhvi in the cross-voting spree by the MLAs of the State, despite having a relatively weak presence in the assembly. BJP has had a 25-member strength in a 68-member assembly. The situation has now come to a standstill as both the parties hold an equal 34 votes in the assembly.
The Sukhvinder government seems to be on the brink as of now; the State assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania has expelled 15 BJP MLAs on account of misconduct and shouting slogans in the Chamber.
Opposition leader and former Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur are also on the suspension list, Thakur had earlier said. ” We are apprehensive that Speaker might suspend the BJP MLAs so that the budget can be passed in the Vidhan Sabha.”
To make things worse for Congress, Vikramaditya Singh, another top brass official, stepped down from the role of minister. While addressing a media conference, he said that the party disregarded his father, late Virbhadra Singh, saying “the person who held the CM post of Himachal for six times, who laid the foundation of this government was disrespected and could not even be honored with a statue on a do gaz zameen on the mall road, this is what respect the government has shown to my father.”
He also said, “We need to go into the background and see what led to this situation. I would like to rewind your memory. The 2022 assembly election was fought and won under the collective leadership of then Leader of opposition Mukesh Agnihotri, State Congress chief Pratibha Singh, and current CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, and it was fought in the name of the late CM Virbhadra Singh.” He further aimed at Congress’s poor mismanagement and claimed negligence on their part. Reportedly, the dissenting MLAs are disgruntled and unhappy with the party’s operation.
However, on his resignation, CM Singhvi said, “I have spoken with him, he is my younger brother, and there is no reason to accept his resignation. He has some grievances that will be solved.” A disqualification motion has also been brought by the Congress against the MLAs who voted for the BJP.
Things were looking somewhat bright and busy for the Congress until now as the INDIA bloc, in the Chandigarh mayors’ polls, won in an alliance with the AAP and secured a coalition and seat allocation deal with the AAP for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Gujarat, Delhi, and Haryana. A similar alliance has been made for the Uttar Pradesh seats as Congress will contest for 17 and SP for the other 63 in a bid to break the formidable BJP in those states. Similar deals are in development with the Maharashtra & Bengal government.
The Cross-Voting Debacle
Behind the turmoil lies the six Congress MLAs and three independent ones who decided to cross-vote for the BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan. According to NDTV, the BJP is likely to move a no-vote confidence motion and demand a floor test. Mr. Sukhu claimed that five to six Congress MLAs had been taken to BJP-ruled Haryana by a Haryana police convoy. He also said that the family members of the MLAs were trying to contact them and called the act gundagardi of the BJP.
Mr. Singhvi, while talking to NDTV, said, “Despite all their attempts, we naturally reached a figure of 34 each. This is probably the first time something like this has happened in India and it is unlikely to happen again. No votes were declared invalid, and there were no second preference votes. The winner was decided by a draw of lots.”
Mahajan, who won over the seat, has alleged that more fence-sitters are ready to swap sides and said this government will topple with its weight, meaning Congress’s instability has only just begun, and this could very well result in their subversion. There are substantial reasons and speculations behind the overturn in the State. Some are saying there has been a conflict over the CM gaddi between Congress chief Pratibha Singh and the current CM Singhvi, who was chosen as a change of face and a generational shift after Vibhardha Singh, and how MLAs were not complacent with their posts in the government.
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