Himachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker Brij Bihari Lal Butail on Wednesday said the fate of the four independent MLAs – now also associate members of the ruling congress - will be decided very soon, maybe early next month. The decision, according to the Speaker, will come before the budget session of the House slated for March 2015. Butail sounded alarm bells for the congress saying "if the case falls within the purview of the Anti-Defection Law, I will be compelled to take some harsh action. My decision will be such that no one can raise questions on my fairness and impartiality". Fate of the four independent MLAs – Pawan Kajal (Kangra), Manohar Dhiman ( Indora), Krinesh Jung ( Paonta) and Balbir Verma (Chopal) have been hanging in the balance after BJP's chief whip Suresh Bhardwaj and few other MLAs have filed a petition before the Speaker seeking their disqualification from the House. The MLAs, in a signed statement last year, had pledged their support to Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and criticized the opposition BJP for seeking his resignation on corruption charges during last assembly session. Asked about the fate of the petition pending before him, Speaker said "I will have to act as a judge and give a fair opportunity to all the sides. The replies of the MLAs whose disqualification was being sought have filed their replies. I propose to record their statements separately. Three have already appeared for the evidence and only one left –Krinesh Jung has also been sent notice." Butail said thereafter the petitioners will again be given an opportunity to present their pleadings, in writings or otherwise. That will complete the exercise to record evidence and enable him to reach at final judgement. Asked if he was required to seek views of the government too, Speaker said "there is no need, why should I seek views. I have to record evidence and give my judgement making it as foolproof case so that no body, including media, can criticise the verdict". He added, "If I find the case falls within the purview of the anti-defection law, then I will be compelled to act harsh". In all there were five independent MLAs elected to the assembly in 2012 though all except Krinesh Jung, were BJP rebels but they supported the Congress Legislature Party, which has 35 members in the 68-member House. Rajender Rana, independent MLA from Sujanpur (Hamirpur) had resigned last year to contest Lok Sabha poll against sitting BJP MP Anurag Thakur. He lost the poll even as his wife who contested as congress nominee in bypoll also could not retain the seat.
