leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday took a sharp jibe at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) amid the political crisis in Himachal Pradesh, saying that the party wants to "crush" people's mandate by misusing money, power, and central agencies.
She further claimed that the BJP is trying to push the state towards a "political disaster".
"In democracy, the general public has the right to choose the government of their choice. The people of Himachal used this right and formed the Congress government with a clear majority. But BJP wants to crush this right of the people of Himachal by misusing the money power, power of agencies and power of the Centre. The way BJP is using government security and machinery for this purpose is unprecedented in the history of the country," Vadra said in a post on X in Hindi.
"If a party with 25 MLAs is challenging the majority of 43 MLAs, then it clearly means that it is dependent on horse-trading of representatives. This attitude of theirs is unethical and unconstitutional. The people of Himachal and the country are watching everything. The BJP, which did not stand with the people of the state during the natural disaster, now wants to push the state into political disaster," she added.
Vadra's remarks came hours after the BJP claimed that Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led Himachal government is in the minority after the former won the state's lone Rajya Sabha seat with its candidate Harsh Mahajan defeating Congress stalwart Singhvi, despite the latter being in the majority.
Both the Congress and the BJP candidates got 34 votes, indicating that at least six Congress MLAs voted against the party.
The Speaker today suspended 15 MLAs for allegedly disturbing the proceedings.
Meanwhile, to control the damage, the Congress sent Bhupesh Baghel, DK Shivakumar and Bhupinder Hooda to Shimla as observers to speak to the party MLAs. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the party will not hesitate to take some difficult decisions if the need arises because the institution is above individuals.
In the 68-member Himachal Pradesh Assembly, the Congress has 40 MLAs while the BJP has 25 legislators. The remaining three seats are held by independents.
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