Saini wins trust vote; 5 JJP members walk out
CHANDIGARH: Nayab Singh Saini-led BJP government in Haryana on Wednesday won the confidence motion by voice vote in the state assembly here, a day after he took oath as the new chief minister.
Five of the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) MLAs left the House when the trust vote was taken up during the Assembly’s special session.
The JJP, which was part of the previous Khattar government, had issued a whip, asking its 10 legislators to remain absent from the Assembly during voting on the confidence motion.
Speaker Gian Chand Gupta put the trust motion for voting by voice vote which the Saini government won.
Former state home minister and senior BJP leader Anil Vij, who had left in a huff the party meeting where Saini was picked up chief minister on Tuesday, was present in the House.
During the voice vote, besides JJP’s 10 MLAs, lone legislator of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) was also not present in the House.
JJP MLAs Devender Singh Babli, Ram Kumar Gautam, Ishwar Singh, Ram Niwas and Jogi Ram Sihag left the House when the trust vote was taken up.
Congress members asked Speaker Gupta to conduct voting through secret ballot but he refused saying there was no provision in the rules for the same.
Earlier, Saini had moved a motion to seek a vote of confidence in the assembly. A twohour discussion took place on the motion.
Speaking in the House, Saini said, “Our government not only has the trust of the MLAs, but we also have trust of the people of Haryana.”
The BJP having 41 MLAs on its own was comfortably placed even without support of the JJP.
Besides JJP’s 10 MLAs, INLD member and one Congress member were also not present which reduced the strength of the House to 78.