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Ahead of the Assembly session, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has called a 'breakfast meeting' of all Congress MLAs on Thursday in Shimla.
"It is an important meeting. Let's see what happens...This is an informal meeting," party MLA Ashish Butail. Congress MLA Sudarshan Singh Bablu said, "The CM has called everyone for breakfast. Let's see what discussions are taking place...We received the message last night. Our Government will continue under the leadership of the Chief Minister." On Wednesday the Congress MLAs met individually with the two central observers DK Shivakumar and Bhupendra Hooda. The observers will now submit their report to the party high command. Meanwhile, the Speaker of Himachal Pradesh Assembly Kuldeep Singh Pathania is likely to pronounce the order on the future of six rebel Congress MLAs who cross voted in the Rajya Sabha polls. The petition was filed by Congress MLA and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Harsh Wardhan Chauhan under the anti-defection law for disqualification of the six MLAs. Earlier on Wednesday, the Speaker said that the Parliamentary Affairs Minister had filed a petition against the six MLAs of the Congress party because the anti-defection law attracts proceedings against them. The Congress government in the state faces a crisis after six MLAs crossed sides and are learnt to be in touch with the BJP. The Congress has 40 MLAs, while the BJP has 25 in the 68-member state assembly. The remaining three seats are held by independents. The Congress had managed to pass the state budget after the speaker suspended 15 BJP MLAs for allegedly creating a ruckus in his chamber, a move that came under severe criticism from the BJP. "The BJP has 25 MLAs. The number increased to 34 after the Rajya Sabha voting. This created a danger for the government... They had to pass the budget somehow otherwise the government would fall. For this, they had to decrease the no. of BJP MLAs. 15 MLAs including me have been suspended... We were suspended to save the Congress government. After our suspension, they passed the budget" BJP leader Jairam Thakur said. The BJP has claimed the Congress had lost the moral standing to be in power after losing majority in the Assembly. (ANI)
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