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The BJP on Tuesday accused Congress workers of hooliganism and NSUI workers protested against this at a BJP press conference venue.
When NSUI members saw Lahaul-Spiti Congress rebel and BJP candidate Ravi Thakur at a press conference venue near the Ridge Maidan, they got angry and jumped over the wall to reach the venue at HPTDC Restaurant. The NSUI started raising slogans against Thakur. Local police protected him. The conflict arose when BJP gave tickets to Congress rebels for the Assembly by-polls. The BJP has fielded Ravi Thakur from Lahaul-Spiti, Rajinder Rana from Sujanpur, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal from Barsar, Chaitanya Sharma from Gagret and Devinder Kumar Bhutto from Kutlehar. All six disqualified Congress MLAs--Rajinder Singh Rana, Sudhir Sharma, Chaitanya Sharma, Ravi Thakur, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, and Davinder Bhutto-- had cross-voted in in the Rajya Sabha election in favour of BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan against Congress' senior leader Abhishek Mani Singhvi. On the occasion of the birthday of Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh a blood donation camp was organized by NSUI at the Ridge grounds. Ravi Thakur condemned this incident and said that he left the party due to anger over Sukhu's functioning. The Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh earlier today accused the BJP of horsetrading and warned all the six MLAs on what basis they would go to the public to seek votes. He said that all the six MLAs have sold themselves. Harsh Mahajan, who was elected as MP for Rajya Sabha, claimed that apart from the four Lok Sabha seats of Himachal, BJP will also win six by-elections. Meanwhile, the NSUI leaders alleged the Congress rebels have deceived the party workers and also have disappointed the people of state who had elected them on symbol of Congress party. With the six rebel MLAs disqualified, the strength of the house came down from 68 to 62 and the halfway mark is 32. With the loss of 6 MLAs the Congress now has 34 MLAs and the BJP with independents, has 28. The fortunes of the Congress will now rest on its ability to keep the rest of its flock together. (ANI)
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