Himachal BJP chief Bindal accuses Sukhu govt of raiding houses, businesses of Independent and rebel Congress MLAs, says such ‘dictatorship’ won’t be tolerated
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TNR Desk
Himachal Pradesh BJP president Rajeev Bindal has accused the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led Congress government of engaging in a series of authoritarian actions, thus “polluting the state’s environment with its dictatorial decisions”.
Bindal alleged that following BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan’s victory in the Rajya Sabha elections from the lone Himachal Pradesh seat, the Congress government had descended into a state of complete panic. “They have initiated a spree of unjust actions, including the suspension of 15 BJP MLAs and the unjust passage of the budget, followed by the unjust termination of membership of six rebel Congress MLAs who voted for the BJP. These actions are a complete assault on democracy,” he said.
The BJP state president expressed dissatisfaction with the Congress government’s relentless use of police and administrative tactics against the disqualified MLAs and independent legislators. “Such behaviour is unacceptable. The government’s actions, which include raiding the homes and businesses of MLAs, issuing various penalties, blocking access to their residences, intimidating and threatening them, targeting their associates, inciting conflicts through proxies and instilling fear across Himachal Pradesh, are intolerable and will not be tolerated,” said Bindal.
TNR had reported how the Sukhu government had gone on the offensive against the six rebel party MLAs who cross-voted for the BJP in the recent Rajya Sabha election in the Vidhan Sabha. As a result of the cross-voting, Harsh Mahajan emerged victorious while top lawyer and Congress candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi had to taste defeat. This happened despite the Congress claiming the support of 43 MLAs, including three Independents, and the BJP having 25 legislators of its own in the Assembly.
Subsequently disqualified from the Vidhan Sabha by Speaker Kuldeep Pathania under the anti-defection law, the six Congress MLAs are Rajinder Singh Rana (Sujanpur), Sudhir Sharma (Dharamshala), Chaitanya Sharma (Gagret), Ravi Thakur (Lahaul-Spiti), Inder Dutt Lakhanpal (Barsar) and Davinder Bhutto (Kutlehar).
The Sukhu government on Saturday (March 2, 2024) cancelled the appointment of six councilllors nominated to the Dharamshala Municipal Corporation by disqualified rebel MLA Sudhir Sharma. The action was taken under Section 3 of the Himachal Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act 1994. Earlier, Sudhir’s supporters, including local Youth Congress president Ashwani alias Daksh Rana, were removed from their positions.
Posters showing the six rebels as “black sheep” have been put up in Palampur and other parts of the state while effigies of the MLAs were burnt in their home towns by Congress workers loyal to CM Sukhu. In Lahaul-Spiti, a link road built on forest land to the house of local MLA Ravi Thakur was blocked by raising a stone wall.
