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Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu launched a scathing attack on former Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, saying he tried to 'topple the government with money power'.
Speaking to ANI, Sukhu said, "The attempt made by Jairam Thakur to topple the government, which was elected based on people's votes, using money, is a murder of democracy... The people of Himachal are aware... They will decide on June 1. Our government has done a great job in the last 15 months... We are also preparing to field our MLAs in the elections." Earlier, in March, six rebel Congress MLAs joined the opposition BJP. All six disqualified Congress MLAs--Rajinder Singh Rana, Sudhir Sharma, Chaitanya Sharma, Ravi Thakur, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, and Davinder Bhutto- had cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha election in favour of BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan against Congress' senior leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi. Additionally, three independents--Hoshyar Singh, Ashish Sharma, and K.L. Thakur--also left the Sukhu camp for the BJP, leading to Singhvi's defeat in the Rajya Sabha elections. The bypolls to six Assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh that fell vacant following the disqualification of Congress MLAs, will be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha polls on June 1. In the 68-member assembly constituency, the ruling Congress was in a comfortable majority with the support of 43 MLAs--40 of its own and three independents. The remaining 25 MLAs were from the BJP. 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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