Disqualify two MLAs who joined BJP: Cong

SHIMLA : Stepping up its diatribe against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the opposition Congress demanded the disqualification of two Independent legislators from the Vidhan Sabha for joining the saffron party.

A first-time legislator from Dehra, Hoshiyar Singh, and Prakash Rana from Jogindernagar had joined the BJP in the presence of the chief minister Jai Ram Thakur and state party chief Suresh Kashyap on Wednesday at the party headquarters, Deepkamal, in Shimla.

Congress campaign panel head Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu demanded action under the antidefection law against the two members. “Vidhan Sabha speaker should disqualify both the legislators from the membership of the House since they joined the BJP at the party office in Shimla,” said Sukhu.

“It’s unfortunate that both Hoshiyar Singh and Prakash Rana have played with the sentiments of the electorate in Dehra and Jogindernagar,” he said.

“People had given them mandate against the BJP. Now that they have joined the party, their membership should be cancelled immediately,” he said.

Both legislators came into the limelight after they defeated political heavyweights from Dehra and Jogindernagar. Rana defeated Union information and broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur’s father-in-law from Jogindernagar Gulab Singh Thakur, who was a former speaker and revenue minister in the Prem Kumar Dhumal government in 1998 and 2004. Rana owns a business in Saudi Arabia.

Hoshiyar Singh, who runs a business in Maharashtra, had defeated two bigwigs, former Pradesh Congress Committee chief and Rajya Sabha member Viplove Thakur and five-time legislator Ravinder Singh Ravi.

“There are many grounds for the disqualification of a member from the House if an elected member voluntarily gives up the membership of the party he has been elected from,” Sukhu said, adding that the party legislator will soon submit a memorandum to the speaker urging him to disqualify the two. “I have reiterated numerous times that it was in 1998 that the BJP first formed the government in Himachal and PM Narendra Modi, who was in-charge of the party affairs in the state, played an instrumental role along with Dhumal. It’s after years that the BJP is trying to weaken Dhumal’s position,” he said.

People had given them mandate against the BJP. Now that they have joined the party, their membership should be cancelled immediately SUKHWINDER S SUKHU, Cong campaign panel head