BJP likely to urge Himachal Pradesh Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla for floor test today

Tribune News Service

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, February 27

After the victory of its candidate in the Rajya Sabha poll on Tuesday, Himachal Pradesh witnessed frenzied political activity with the state BJP legislature party set to meet Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla on Wednesday morning in a bid to urge him to call for a floor test.

BJP sources told The Tribune that the party had “enough evidence to show to the Governor that Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led dispensation had lost the mandate to rule”.

“The BJP has ample proof to request the Governor for a floor test. We also learn that the Congress government in the state was mulling sine die adjournment of the ongoing session on Wednesday itself. We have met the Speaker and urged him for passage of the Budget after a division of votes which the CM is scared of because he does not have the numbers," a top BJP leader said, adding that the BJP legislature party would meet the Governor before the Assembly session starts.

Amid the drama, it is learnt that senior Congress MLA Sudhir Sharma could be fielded by the BJP from the Kangra LS seat in the upcoming elections.

The Congress top brass, meanwhile, took stock of the crisis after six party MLAs cross-voted for Harsh Mahajan.Their absence ahead of passage of the Budget led to panic buttons being pressed in Delhi, with the high command in damage-control mode to save the sole party government in north India. Some HP party leaders are learnt to have spoken to Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and sought crisis management.

One of the leaders who spoke to Priyanka said he had conveyed to the leadership his inability to work with Sukhu.

“I have conveyed that I will not be able to work with the CM and I am not sure how long the state government will survive,” a top Himachal Congress leader said. Another Congress leader said some more Himachal MLAs too were “cross with the CM’s style of working and sitting on the fence over ongoing developments”.

The BJP is also likely to rehabilitate Congress MLA Rajinder Rana with a plum role, with sources questioning “abrupt adjournment of House when LoP Jai Ram Thakur sought division on the cut motions to the health budget. This shows the government was not sure of numbers”. Asked if a no-confidence motion was an option, a BJP source said, “First we want a vote on the state Budget.”

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