Chandigarh: The Congress on Thursday demanded that Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya dissolve the Assembly and impose either President’s rule or call an early election as the Nayab Singh Saini-led BJP government “is in the minority”.
A delegation of the party led by two-time Chief Minister Bhupinder Hooda and state party chief Chaudhary Udaibhan met the Governor and handed over the memorandum listing the demands.
In the memorandum, the Congress said the BJP has 41 legislators in the 90-member house, and there has been no change in the ruling party’s strength despite the Chief Minister being elected as a legislator in a bypoll from Karnal.
Besides its own 41 legislators, the government has the support of one legislator of the Haryana Lokhit Party and one Independent. The total number of legislators supporting the government is only 43, says the memorandum.
“At present, the number of legislators in the House is 87 and the majority figure is 44. If the present government does not use horse-trading and other unconstitutional methods, it does not have a majority in the House. Therefore, as the protector of the Constitution, the Governor should immediately dismiss the minority government and impose President’s rule in the state,” the memorandum states.
The Congress urged the Governor to maintain the dignity and sanctity of the Constitution while discharging his constitutional duties. It also sought orders to be passed to conduct Assembly elections as per rules to provide an opportunity for the people of the state to elect a majority government.
After meeting the Governor, Hooda and Chaudhary Udaibhan said a memorandum was earlier submitted to the Governor in this regard by the Congress Legislature Party on May 10. “This government should resign on moral grounds and the Governor should immediately dissolve the Assembly to stop horse trading. The Governor has assured to consider the memorandum,” Hooda told the media.
Chaudhary Udaibhan said the Congress “is fully prepared for the Assembly elections in Haryana. “The results of the Lok Sabha elections have shown that the Congress is the strongest party in the state. Three independent MLAs supporting the government have also supported the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections,” he said.
Three Independent legislators had withdrawn their support from the government in Haryana, reducing the government to a minority. The three legislators — Sombir Sangwan, Randhir Gollen, and Dharampal Gonder — had said they had decided to support the Congress during the Lok Sabha elections.
