Confident after the victory of BJP nominee Harsh Mahajan in the Rajya Sabha poll following cross-voting by six Congress MLAs, the opposition BJP met Himachal Pradesh Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla in the morning and urged him for division of votes on cut motions and the Finance Bill in the ongoing Vidhan Sabha session.
Led by the Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur, the BJP Legislature Party submitted a memorandum to the Governor, alleging that the Speaker of the HP Assembly has been ‘unfair’ to the Opposition and had not allowed the BJP MLAs repeated requests for division of vote on a cut motion on health yesterday and had adjourned the House.
The BJP MLAs said when they were going to meet the Speaker in his chamber after adjournment, the Marshalls were sent to stop them, leading to jostling. Later the Speaker said he had not deployed any Marshalls.
Meanwhile, in what appears to be another crack in the Himachal Pradesh Congress, cabinet minister and son of former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, Vikramaditya Singh resigned from his position as a minister in Chief Minister Sukhu's cabinet.
The BJP Legislature Party said they feared the biased approach of the Speaker in the Assembly and urged the Governor to intervene in the matter so that the division of vote is done on cut motions and the Finance Bill.
The state Assembly’s budget session is in progress and ends tomorrow after the Finance Bill is taken up.
The BJP is confident of the defeat of the Bill as six Congress MLAs who cross-voted for the BJP nominee in the Rajya Sabha poll are reportedly in no mood to give in.
At present, BJP has 25 MLAs in HP, Congress has 40 and three are Independents, who had also supported the BJP nominee in the Rajya Sabha poll.
Meanwhile, the Speaker of the HP Assembly, Kuldeep Singh Pathania also met the Governor later.
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