Chandigarh:
Four MLAs of the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) have joined the Congress and the merger has been allowed by the Haryana Assembly Speaker HS Chathha. The Congress now has 44 MLAs in the 90-member House.
The MLAs - Rao Narinder, Sat Pal Sangvan, Vinood Bhayana and Zila Ram - broke away from the Kuldeep-Bishnoi-led HJC on Monday saying four of the six of them had decided to merge with the Congress, which was two-thirds of the party in the House. The Speaker said this was legal.
The MLAs said Kuldeep Bishnoi was delaying in deciding on joining the government and they thought joining Congress was the only option left with them.
The Congress has already formed government in the state with the support of Independents and with Bhupinder Singh Hooda as the chief minister.
Last month's elections had thrown up a fractured verdict, with the ruling Congress falling six short of simple majority in the 90-member Assembly. The Congress finished with a tally of 40 followed by a resurgent INLD with 32. Of the remaining 18 seats, the Haryana Janhit Congress-BL got six seats, while the BJP got four and the BSP and SAD got one seat each. Independents bagged seven seats.