"More Congress Lawmakers In Touch With Us": Rebel Himachal MLA Who Joined BJP

More legislators are feeling suffocated in the Congress and would also show courage to leave the party in the coming days, said Rajinder Rana, one of the six disqualified MLAs who switched to the BJP on Saturday.

The Congress rebels and three independent MLAs, who had voted in favour of the BJP in recently concluded Rajya Sabha polls, were given a rousing welcome by the BJP on their arrival here after joining the party in New Delhi.

"More legislators are feeling suffocated in Congress and are in contact with us. They would also show courage to leave Congress in the coming days," Mr Rana told reporters here.

He blamed the Congress leadership for the "political disaster" in the hill state and claimed the state government 'is on a ventilator".

The BJP workers and supporters of these leaders danced to the traditional folk tunes while welcoming them here on Saturday night.

The three independents are Ashish Sharma (Hamirpur constituency), Hoshiyar Singh (Dehra) and K L Thakur (Nalagarh) had submitted their resignations on Friday.

The former six Congress MLAs, who were disqualified for defying a party whip, included Sudhir Sharma (Dharamshala), Ravi Thakur (Lahaul and Spiti), Rajinder Rana (Sujanpur), Inder Dutt Lakhanpal (Barsar), Chetanya Sharma (Gagret) and Devinder Kumar Bhutto (Kutlehar "The elected representatives were humiliated in the past 15 months and people were asking us when will the ten guarantees promised in the last assembly polls fulfilled and we had no answer," Rana said.

"We nine MLAs have decided to file a defamation case against chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu for his alleged comments of "Dhan bal"," Mr Rana said.

Sudhir Sharma, a four-term MLA and former minister, said the Congress is disintegrating because its leadership lacks vision for the country and has nothing to offer except criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Humiliation of legislators led to this day and even the electorates of our constituency were unhappy with the government, he added.

"I have joined BJP as per my will," he added.

"Development works in the state have come to a standstill during 15 months since the Congress came to power and the government which is on a ventilator is trying hard to survive," Hoshiyar Singh said.

Leader of the opposition Jai Ram Thakur said that all these leaders who have now become members of the BJP family are impressed by the developmental policies of the prime minister and they would get full respect and will be treated like family members.

"The Congress government is in a minority," Mr Thakur said State BJP chief Rajiv Bindal said BJP that it is a "historic day and we welcome them in BJP".

The nine leaders had joined the BJP in the presence of Union Minister Anurag Thakur, former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Jai Ram Thakur, its national general secretary Arun Singh and state unit president Rajeev Bindal on Saturday afternoon.

The Election Commission has announced by-polls for the six constituencies held by these former Congress MLAs. Bypolls are expected to be announced on the three seats held by the Independents too.

With the disqualification of six Congress MLAs, the strength of the ruling Congress came down from 40 to 34, including the Speaker who can vote only in the case of a tie during a floor test, in the 68-member Assembly. The BJP has 25 members.

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