NEW DELHI: In a major political development in Himachal Pradesh, six
rebel Congress MLAs
joined opposition BJP on Saturday.
The MLAs
Sudhir Sharma
,
Ravi Thakur
,
Rajinder Rana
,
Inder Dutt Lakhanpal
, Chaitanya Sharma and Devinder Kumar Bhutto, were disqualified on February 29 for defying a party whip.
They joined the saffron party in presence of state BJP president Rajiv Bindal and Union minister Anurag Thakur.
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.
According to reports, three Independent MLAs — Ashish Sharma, Hoshiyar Singh and KL Thakur — who submitted their resignations on Friday, are also likely to join the BJP soon.