Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu today participated in the oath-taking ceremony of six newly elected MLAs Rakesh Kalia, Vivek Sharma, Captain (Retd.) Ranjeet Rana, Anuradha Rana, Sudhir Sharma and Inderdutt Lakhanpal at Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha Shimla. Speaker H.P. Vidhan Sabha Kuldeep Singh Pathania administers the oath to these MLAs .
Out of six MLAs, four belong to Congress Party thereby increasing the strength of legislators of Congress Party in Vidhan Sabha to 38 from 34. The Chief Minister congratulated the newly elected MLAs on the occasion.
Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri, Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur, Deputy Speaker Vinay Kumar, Cabinet Ministers and MLAs were also present on the occasion.
Later while interacting with media, Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said that the claim of BJP to form government in the State has failed as people have elected four Congress candidates in the Assembly bye-elections. The Congress Party has consolidated its position in the Vidhan Sabha raising number of its MLAs to 38.
He said that the present State Government would continue its endeavour to make Himachal Pradesh a self-reliant State and the government has been taking various decisions in this regard. He said that the people of the State have rejected the politics of horse-trading as four turned coat MLAs had faced defeat in the bye-elections.
Responding to a question, the Chief Minister said that the Congress Party is fully prepared for the upcoming three Assembly bye-elections in the State for which the candidates would be finalized shortly.
