Hamirpur: Union minister Anurag Thakur on Monday held the Congress responsible for the political crisis in Himachal Pradesh and claimed that even the members of the party in power "have not accepted" the government.
Last week, Himachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania disqualified six Congress MLAs, who had cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha polls, for abstaining from voting on the Budget in the assembly. A rebel Congress MLA has claimed that at least nine more party legislators were in touch with them.
Interacting with reporters on the sidelines of an event here, Thakur said, "Congress party is responsible for the current political crises in the state. Even the Congress workers have not accepted their party's government as it came to power by making false promises."
He also claimed that the Congress MLAs were not able to face the public "disappointed and disillusioned" with the party in power in the state. The Union minister also claimed that the BJP had no role in the "internal crisis" of the Congress party.
By fielding Harsh Mahajan as its nominee for the lone Rajya Sabha seat in Himachal Pradesh, the BJP played the role of a concrete opposition. Mahajan's victory proved that Congress MLAs were not happy with their leadership and did not approve of the working style of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, Thakur said.
In a stunning upset for the ruling Congress in Himachal Pradesh, the BJP on Tuesday won the state's lone Rajya Sabha seat with its candidate Harsh Mahajan defeating Congress stalwart Abhishek Manu Singhvi. About the upcoming general elections, Thakur said names of probable candidates will be discussed during the BJP's meeting to be held in Shimla shortly.
Following this, the BJP's parliamentary board will send the probable candidates' names to the central election committee, he said and exuded confidence that the BJP would make a clean sweep, winning all four Lok Sabha seats in the state, as it did in 2019.
Welcoming the Supreme Court's decision that there should be no immunity from prosecution for MPs and MLAs taking bribes to vote or make a speech in the House, Thakur said it was the right decision at the right time and everyone should accept it in the larger interest of the nation. It would make Indian politics neat and clean, the Union minister added.
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