Himachal Pradesh: After cross-voting in RS elections, 6 Cong MLAs, 3 Independents join BJP

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