May 8 (Punjab Khabarnama) : Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini on Wednesday said his government is not in any trouble and working strongly, a day after three Independent MLAs withdrew support to the BJP dispensation.
He blamed the Congress for creating confusion that his government is in trouble. “The government is not in any trouble, it is working strongly,” Saini told reporters in Sirsa when asked to comment on the withdrawal of support.
The chief minister was in Sirsa to campaign for Ashok Tanwar, the BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate.
Independent MLAs Sombir Sangwan (Dadri), Randhir Golan (Pundri) and Dharampal Gonder (Nilokheri) withdrew support to the BJP government in Haryana on Tuesday and announced that they would back the Congress, reducing the government to a minority in the assembly.
“The Congress knows that it cannot fulfil the aspirations of people and misleads them. It tries to create a state of confusion that the (state) government is in minority. The government is not in trouble and is functioning strongly,” he asserted.
The Haryana Congress has said it will write to the governor, stating that the Saini government is in minority and should be dismissed, President’s Rule be imposed in the state and fresh assembly elections be announced.
The government, which has the support of two other Independents, is now two short of the majority mark in the 90-member House that has a current strength of 88. The BJP has 40 MLAs, the Congress 30, the Jan Nayak Janata Party 10, the Haryana Lokhit Party (HLP) and the Indian National Lok Dal one each besides six Independents. The BJP, which had 41 MLAs initially, was reduced to 40 when the Karnal seat fell vacant following the resignation of former chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who is the party’s Karnal Lok Sabha candidate.
Ex-CM Khattar says several leaders standing in support
On three Independent MLAs withdrawing support, Khattar said: “We can’t do anything about Independent candidates. Several leaders are standing in our support and they should keep their leaders safe, it will be known soon how many are in contact with us.”
“Many people are also in contact with us, be it the main opposition party that has 30 members. What do they want to do with 30 members? Even if 30 members bring a no-confidence motion, nothing is going to happen. They don’t know how many leaders of the other parties will stand with us,” he said on the sidelines of a roadshow in Karnal on Wednesday.