Reported & Written By Kumud Sharma, Diary Times, Shimla, March 30: The resignation of three independent MLAs of Himachal Pradesh Ashish Sharma, Hoshyar Singh and KL Thakur from the assembly membership has not yet been accepted by Himachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania. Angered by this, the three independent MLAs reached the assembly premises at 11 am on Saturday and sat on strike. Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania is out of Himachal these days. He is on a foreign tour and is scheduled to return to the state on Tuesday.
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All three independent MLAs have joined BJP. After resigning from the assembly membership, they took membership of BJP and all three want to contest the by-elections from their respective assembly constituencies. But until their resignations are accepted, they cannot contest elections. The three independent MLAs are angry with the Speaker when their resignations are not accepted even after a week. Independent MLAs, in an informal conversation with the media at the protest site on Saturday, said that the Assembly Speaker is working under pressure from the government. The three independent MLAs clarified that they have given their resignations voluntarily without any pressure and the Speaker should immediately accept them.
Independent MLA from Hamirpur Ashish Sharma said that despite holding a constitutional post, the Speaker is working as a party worker. He said that he was forced to vote for the BJP candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections due to the Chief Minister’s neglect. He alleged that the Chief Minister was acting out of revenge. The Congress government has filed an FIR against him. Efforts are being made to harm his family’s business.
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Independent MLA from Nalagarh KL Thakur said that he is an old BJP leader. He has also been a BJP MLA in the past and has voted for the BJP candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections following his conscience. The Congress government was ignoring the development works of his assembly constituency. Now the government is working with the intention of harming his family’s business.
Independent MLA from Dehra, Hoshyar Singh said that we have resigned on our own free will. There is no pressure of any kind. We were forced to stage a protest as the Assembly Speaker did not accept our resignation letter.
All three independent MLAs had submitted their resignation to the Assembly Secretary on March 22 –
Ashish Sharma from Hamirpur, Hoshyar Singh from Dehra and KL Thakur from Nalagarh assembly constituency had resigned from the membership of the assembly on March 22. After this, all three independent MLAs joined BJP in Delhi on 23 March. The all three independent MLAs had earlier submitted their resignation letters to the Assembly Secretary. After this all three independent met the Governor. Then he personally met Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania and submitted his resignation letter to him also. Since the Rajya Sabha elections last month, all three independent MLAs have been vocal against the Sukhu government.
Two ministers of Congress government complained to the Speaker –
Two cabinet ministers of Sukhu government, Jagat Singh Negi and Rohit Thakur, had complained to the Assembly Speaker regarding the resignation of the three independent MLAs. It was said in the complaint that the MLAs elected for five years are resigning within 15 months. It seems there is some pressure on them. On this, the Speaker has sent a notice to the independent MLAs asking them to present their views on April 10. In such a situation, all three independent MLAs are in a dilemma due to the resignation not being accepted.
Let us tell you that the Governor of the state, Shiv Pratap Shukla, has put the ball in the court of the Assembly Speaker in this matter and has considered him the only one authorized for this. The Governor says that this is the jurisdiction of the Assembly Speaker and he cannot interfere in this matter.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Diary Times staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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