“Right case for President’s Rule…”: Jairam Ramesh on Haryana political crisis

New Delhi [India], May 10 (ANI): Amid the political crisis in Haryana, Congress General Secretary in charge of Communications, Jairam Ramesh on Friday asserted that the Haryana Government has “lost its majority” adding that it is the “right case” for the President’s Rule.
“I think the Haryana Government has clearly lost its majority when the 3 independent MLAs withdrew their support. It’s the right case for the President’s Rule. This horse-trading that the BJP will do, the ‘Operation Lotus’ that they will do. They have been doing this in different political parties for the last 10 years. But it is very clear that the BJP’s days in Haryana are numbered just as the BJP’s days in New Delhi are numbered,” Jairam Ramesh told ANI.
Amid the intriguing sequence of events amid the festering political crisis in the state, Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini addressed media persons, saying that the Opposition was misleading the people.

Digging in his heels amid claims by the Congress and the JJP that his government was in a minority after three Independent MLAs in their support switched sides, CM Saini called on the Opposition to come clean on the number of legislators who are with them and state the same in writing to the Governor.
Earlier, on Thursday, the JJP chief and former deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala wrote to Governor Bandaru Dattatreya, urging his intervention to end the political stalemate in the state. He called on the Governor to seek a floor test at the earliest and impose President’ Rule in the state if the government failed to prove its majority in the Assembly.

Playing down the Opposition claims that the BJP was presiding over a minority government, CM Saini said, “They (Opposition) have nothing to do with the people and only want to mislead them. They should give in writing to the Governor as to how many MLAs they have in their support and not mislead the people. We won the trust vote recently and will win it again if asked to prove a majority in the House. They are merely trying to distract public attention from other issues. Corruption and scams were rampant under the previous Congress rule in the state.”
On May 7, the Haryana government suffered a big jolt after three independent MLAs withdrew support from the Nayab Saini government, pushing the dispensation into a minority. The three MLAs were Randhir Golan from Pundri, Dharmpal Gonder from Nilokheri, and Sombir Singh Sangwan from Charkhi Dadri. All of them decided to extend support to Congress.
However, the BJP appeared confident of retaining power, with former chief minister Manhora Lal Khattar claiming that several leaders of the Congress and the JJP were in touch with his party.

The development came amid the Lok Sabha polls and within two months after Nayab Saini took over as CM, replacing Khattar.
In the House of 90, the BJP has 39 MLAs, the Congress has 30, the Jan Nayak Janata Party has 10, the Haryana Lokhit Party (HLP) has one, and the Indian National Lok Dal has one, along with seven Independents.
The BJP, which had 41 MLAs initially, was reduced to 39 when the Karnal and Rania seats fell vacant following the resignation of two MLAs.
Earlier, six out of seven Independent MLAs used to support the BJP. With three Independents withdrawing their support, the BJP at present, has the support of three Independents and one HLP MLA, making it a government of 43 MLAs.
The 10 Lok Sabha seats in the state will go to the polls in the penultimate phase on May 25.