Three Independent MLAs in Himachal Pradesh, who had submitted resignations from the state Assembly last week and had then joined the BJP, today sat in dharna in the Vidhan Sabha complex in the state capital, with posters urging the Speaker to accept their resignations.
“We have submitted our resignation from the state Assembly to the Speaker willingly without any pressure from anyone. Kindly accept our resignation,” the posters in the hands of Independent MLAs, Hoshiar Singh (Dehra), Ashish Sharma (Hamirpur) and K L Thakur (Nalagarh) said. The Independents indicated to knock on the doors of the Court in case their resignations were not accepted.
The three Independent MLAs had resigned from the state Assembly on 22 March and had joined the BJP the next day along with the six Congress rebels, who were disqualified from the state Assembly, in Delhi in the presence of Union Minister Anurag Thakur from Himachal Pradesh.
However, the Speaker has not accepted their resignations and has instead issued a notice to them to explain whether they submitted their resignation ‘under duress’.
“The three Independent MLAs have submitted their resignation but have not cited their reasons. It will be recorded and necessary procedures will be followed,” said the Speaker.
The Vidhan Sabha Secretary said the Congress Legislative Party had submitted that the three MLAs had submitted their resignations “under duress”, not voluntarily so they have been issued notices to explain and submit their replies by April 10.
The Independent MLAs sitting on dharna in the Vidhan Sabha complex said they were not under any pressure to resign from the state Assembly. “We had resigned from the Assembly on 22 March and had joined BJP on 23 March.
We have repeatedly requested the Speaker to accept our resignations, but he is not accepting,” said Hoshiar Singh from the Dehra segment. He said it was wrong to allege that the Independent MLAs had resigned for any allurement or under pressure. “We have given our resignations willingly,” he said.
Independent MLAs from the Nalagarh Assembly segment said they can’t ask for an explanation from the Independent MLAs as they were not elected on the party ticket.
“In 14 months of rule, the Congress government has not done any development work in HP. We protest this and urge the Speaker to accept our resignation immediately so that by-polls are conducted in our constituencies too so that everything becomes clear,” he said.
“We were humiliated in 14 months of Congress rule in HP. This amounts to an insult to the people in our constituencies also. The Congress government did not do any development work in our constituencies.
So we have resigned in protest against the discrimination and the treatment meted out to us,” said Ashish Sharma, Independent MLA from Hamirpur. Sharma is also facing an FIR, together with the father of a Congress rebel Chaitanya Sharma, for “electoral offences” related to the Rajya Sabha poll on February 27( that witnessed cross-voting, pushing the Congress government in crisis) based on complaint by Congress MLAs Sanjay Awasthi and Bhuvneshwar Gaur.
The by-polls to the six Assembly constituencies, which have fallen vacant after disqualification of Congress, are being held on June 1, with Lok Sabha elections in Himachal Pradesh.
The Independent MLAs had reportedly resigned and joined the BJP with the intention that the by-polls to their constituencies were also held on the same date so that they could contest on BJP ticket.
The BJP has been eyeing to destabilise the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh ever since there was cross-voting by six Congress rebels and three Independents in BJP nominee, Harsh Mahajan's favour in the Rajya Sabha poll, helping him win on February 27.
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