Six former MLAs of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly, who were disqualified as Congress legislators for cross voting in the Rajya Sabha elections earlier this year, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday (March 23) amid the continuing political crisis in the state.
They joined the BJP in the presence of Union Minister Anurag Thakur, former Himachal chief minister Jai Ram Thakur and its state unit president Rajeev Bindal.
Welcoming the former lawmakers into the party, Thakur said their presence will strengthen the BJP further as he accused the Congress government in the state of failing to fulfil its promises, leading to all-round anger among people.
Thakur said these leaders supported the BJP in the recent Rajya Sabha election, reflecting "public anger" against the Congress.
After joining BJP, rebel Himachal MLA Ravi Thakur said, "90 per cent of the total budget of Himachal Pradesh comes from the centre. This is why I voted for Harsh Mahajan, keeping my constituency Lahaul-Spiti in mind... It was unfortunate that the speaker of the assembly suspended us without any reason... When we came to Delhi to fight our case in the SC, Harsh Mahajan provided us with a lawyer but Abhishek Manu Singhvi came to fight the case with 21 lawyers..."
(With inputs from agencies)
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