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The Speaker of Himachal Pradesh Assembly Kuldeep Singh Pathania is likely to pronounce the order on the future of six rebel Congress MLAs on Thursday 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. 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. 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. "When the petition came to me, then I, as a Speaker, had to function like a tribunal. The hearing regarding the same is underway," he said. Reacting to the suspension of 15 BJP MLAs for alleged misbehaviour in the House, the speaker said that the MLAs were trying to create an atmosphere where they could attack him. 15 BJP MLAs were suspended from the Assembly for allegedly creating a ruckus in the Speaker's chamber. The suspended MLAs were LoP Jai Ram Thakur, Vipin Parmar, Randhir Sharma, Hans Raj, Vinod Kumar, Janak Raj, Balbir Verma, Lokinder Kumar, Trilok Jamwal, Surinder Shourie, Puran Chand, Dalip Thakur, Inder Singb Gandhi, Ranbir Nikka, and Deep Raj. Meanwhile, Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said on Wednesday said all fellow party leaders who cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha polls, were like his younger siblings, adding that his party believes in forgiveness and not revenge. Assuring that the Congress government will fulfil the mandate of the people and complete its tenure of five years, CM Sukhu told reporters, "Hum toh sab ko maaf karne wale log hai, hum badle ki bhavna se kaam karne wale log nahi hain (We believe in forgiveness, not revenge.) All fellow members of my party are like my younger brothers and sisters. Our government will complete its full 5-year term." The BJP has however claimed the Congress had lost the moral standing to be in power after losing majority in the Assembly. On Wednesday the Congress MLAs met individually with the two central observers DK Shivakumar and Bhupendra Hooda. On Thursday the MLAs have been invited for a breakfast meeting with the Chief Minister Sukhvinder Sukhu. (ANI)
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