BJP's greed for power, instigation of MLA rebellion exposed: Himachal Congress

The Himachal Pradesh Congress on Sunday accused the BJP of conspiring to topple its government in the state out of greed for power by instigating its members.

The party's remarks came in the wake of nine MLAs — six Congress rebels and three independents, who had voted in favour of the BJP nominee Harsh Mahajan in the Rajya Sabha elections on 27 February — joining the BJP in Delhi on Friday.

"The strategy, face, and character of the BJP has been exposed in front of the public as Congress rebels joining the BJP have made it clear that the BJP was behind the whole conspiracy," state health minister Dhani Ram Shandil and industries minister Harsh Vardhan Chauhan said in a joint statement in Shimla.

The leaders said the six Congress MLAs, who were already stripped of their Assembly membership, hatched a conspiracy with the BJP to topple the democratically elected government.

In a video posted on X on Saturday, Himachal chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu claimed "Rs 2 crore had been spent" on keeping the defecting MLAs away from the public eye. "Who spent this money? The BJP and its people," he said.

The three independents were Ashish Sharma, Hoshiyar Singh, and K.L. Thakur from Hamirpur, Dehra, and Nalagarh Assembly segments.

The six former Congress MLAs — Sudhir Sharma (Dharamshala), Ravi Thakur (Lahaul and Spiti), Rajinder Rana (Sujanpur), Inder Dutt Lakhanpal (Barsar), Chetanya Sharma (Gagret), and Devinder Kumar Bhutto (Kutlehar) — were disqualified by the speaker for defying a whip to be present in the house and vote in favour of the government during the cut motions and passing of the financial bill (budget).

The ministers said the leaders who won the election on the Congress symbol and were honoured with various posts are now raising fingers at the party. "The truth is that all these rebels have left the Congress party owing to personal interest, and it has nothing to do with the interests of the people of the state," they said.

With the disqualification of the six Congress MLAs, the strength of the ruling Congress came down from 40 to 34, including the Speaker, who can vote only in the case of a tie during a floor test, in the 68-member Assembly. The BJP has 25 members.