As three Ind MLAs step down, HP politics take a new turn
The three Independent MLAs who had backed the BJP in the Rajya Sabha election on February 27 abruptly quit the Vidhan Sabha today in order to run for office in the byelections on the BJP ticket.
The three MLAs, Hoshyar Singh of Delhi, KL Thakur of Nagarh, and Ashish Sharma of Hamirpur, came from Delhi and departed Shimla on a chartered jet, accompanied by BJP lawmakers, even as they denied that they were under BJP pressure to quit.
They returned to Delhi after three hours, escorted by Leader of the Opposition Jai Ram Thakur, amid rumors that the six disqualified Congress MLAs and the three will officially join the BJP within the next day or two.
At Jubbarhatti airport, the three MLAs came by chartered jet, escorted by BJP MLAs Bikram Singh and Rakesh Jamwal. Accompanied by former chief minister Jai Ram Thakur and other members from the Bharatiya Janata Party, they drove directly to the Assembly to tender their resignation to the Secretary, Vidhan Sabha. They then traveled to Raj Bhawan, where they met Speaker of the Vidhan Sabha Kuldeep Pathania and Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla, pressuring him to proclaim the three seats for new elections in addition to the six seats that were previously scheduled for Assembly byelections on June 1.
This means that the BJP wants the six segments of the disqualified Congress MLAs to be contested alongside the byelections for the three Independent Assembly seats. Of the 68 members of the Assembly, 34 are Congress MLAs and 25 are BJP MLAs.
