Chaos in Himachal Pradesh Assembly; Speaker suspends 15 BJP MLAs

Shimla (Himachal Pradesh): As many as 15 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs of Himachal Pradesh were suspended from the House by Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania on Wednesday allegedly for creating a ruckus in his chamber.

The 15 BJP MLAs who were suspended from the House include Jai Ram Thakur, Vipin Parmar, Randhir Sharma, Hans Raj, Vinod Kumar, Janak Raj, Balbir Verma, Lokinder Kumar, Trilok Jamwal, Surinder Shourie, Puran Chand, Dalip Thakur, Inder Singh Gandhi, Ranbir Nikka and Deep Raj.

The BJP legislators were suspended by the Speaker after the State Parliamentary Party Affairs Minister Harshwardhan Chauhan moved a proposal recommending the expulsion of the MLAs from the house.

The Himachal Pradesh Assembly was adjourned till noon amid disruptions, with opposition members staging protests in the well of the House.

The BJP however has dubbed this a move by the Congress to prevent its government from toppling ahead of the Budget session.

The BJP is pressing for division voting on the passing of the Budget after it is introduced in the assembly. If Congress is unable to see the Budget through then the government in the state will fall.

The Congress has 40 MLAs while the BJP has 25 in the 68-member state assembly. The remaining three seats are held by independents.

(ANI)