IN A boost for the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, six disqualified Congress MLAs and three Independent MLAs from Himachal Pradesh – who had cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha elections last month - joined the party in New Delhi on Saturday. The BJP’s decision to induct the Congress rebels and Independents is not just a psychological blow to the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh, led by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, but will also ensure that the state government remains on edge for the next two months, until the bypolls are over. Following the cross-voting last month, BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan had won the lone Rajya Sabha seat from the state by a draw of lots, after a tie of 34 votes each in the 68-member Assembly. The Congress had fielded veteran party leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi. The Congress's six MLAs who cross-voted – Rajinder Singh Rana, Sudhir Sharma, Chaitanya Sharma, Ravi Thakur, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal and Davinder Bhutto – were later disqualified under the anti-defection law, on the ground that they had defied the party whip by not being present in the House when the Finance Bill was passed. Welcoming them into the BJP on Saturday, Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur said: “The nation trusts Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s guarantee today, and I am certain that your joining the BJP will add to the party’s strength. We will become stronger in Himachal Pradesh.” Former Himachal Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, Himachal BJP president Rajeev Bindal and BJP national general secretary Arun Singh were also present on the occasion. “The promises on which the present government in Himachal was formed turned out to be false. In the recent Rajya Sabha elections there, the anger of the people manifested itself in the form of these six MLAs. They voted for BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan. We have seen in many states that many leaders are leaving other parties and joining the BJP. They want to also contribute to the Viksit Bharat promise of Modiji. We also believe that the larger the BJP's family, the greater the strength with which we will be able to serve the people,” Anurag Thakur said. The disqualified MLAs, on their part, targeted the Sukhu government, saying development work had stalled since it came to power. Earlier this month, Himachal Pradesh’s Chief Electoral Officer had announced that bypolls for the six seats that fell vacant due to the disqualification of these MLAs – Dharamshala, Sujanpur, Lahaul and Spiti, Barsar, Gagret and Kutlehar – would be held with the Lok Sabha elections in the state on June 1. With the three Independent MLAs - Ashish Sharma, Hoshiyar Singh and K L Thakur – also resigning on Friday, bypolls are expected to be announced for their seats too. Earlier, the disqualification of the six MLAs had come as a relief for the Congress government in the state. While the total strength of the Himachal Assembly is 68, the Congress had 40 MLAs and the BJP 25. With its six MLAs being disqualified, the Congress strength fell to 34, but the government remained in majority as the House strength also fell to 62 (34 Congress, 25 BJP, 3 Independents). With the Independents resigning, the House strength will be down to 59 now, necessitating bypolls in nine seats - the exact difference between the seats currently held by the Congress and BJP. While there is no immediate threat to the Sukhu government, the turmoil in the Congress is far from over and that is keeping the high command on tenterhooks. Sukhu’s focus would now be on winning the six Assembly seats to save his government rather than on the Lok Sabha battle. At least two of the MLAs - Sudhir Sharma and Rajinder Rana - are influential leaders. While Sharma, the son of former Himachal Pradesh Congress president Pandit Santram, is a four-time MLA, Rana is a three-time MLA. Lakhanpal too is a three-time MLA. The Congress is also anxious over the next move of its state unit president, Pratibha Singh, and her son and state minister, Vikramaditya Singh. Pratibha, the Lok Sabha MP from Mandi, has already declared that she will not contest again, suggesting that the party’s chances are not that strong in the Lok Sabha polls. The unending feud between Sukhu and Pratibha is a challenge that the Congress has to navigate as it enters the electoral battle to save its government in the face of the BJP’s efforts to create a perception that the Congress - in the absence of Virbhadra Singh - cannot provide a stable government. The BJP, which had won all the four Lok Sabha seats in the state in 2014 and 2019 (Pratibha won the Mandi bypoll in 2021) is hoping that it can make gains in the bypolls, since they are set to be held with the Lok Sabha polls in which it believes it has an upper hand.
