Fresh twist in HP politics as three Ind MLAs resign

Pratibha Chauhan

Shimla, March 22

In a dramatic turn of events, the three Independent MLAs who had supported the BJP in the Rajya Sabha election on February 27 resigned from the Vidhan Sabha today to contest on the BJP ticket in the byelections.

Even as the three MLAs — Hoshyar Singh (Dehra), KL Thakur (Nalagarh) and Ashish Sharma (Hamirpur) — denied that they were under pressure from the BJP to resign, they arrived from Delhi and left Shimla in a chartered flight, escorted by BJP legislators.

Accompanied by Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur, they returned to Delhi within three hours amidst speculation that all three along with six disqualified Congress MLAs could formally join the BJP in a day or two.

Escorted by BJP MLAs Bikram Singh and Rakesh Jamwal, the three MLAs arrived by a chartered plane at Jubbarhatti airport. They drove straight to the Assembly to submit their resignation to the Secretary, Vidhan Sabha, where they were accompanied by former CM Jai Ram Thakur and other BJP legislators. Later, they drove to Raj Bhawan and met Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla and Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kuldeep Pathania to impress upon them to notify the three seats for fresh elections with the six already announced for Assembly byelections on June 1.

The development indicates that the BJP is keen that the byelections for the three Assembly seats of Independents is held along with the six segments of the disqualified Congress MLAs. The Assembly, which has a strength of 68 members, now has 34 Congress MLAs and 25 from BJP.