The Himachal Pradesh unit of BJP on Monday said it was "unfortunate" that Chief Minister Sukhvinder Sukhu has resorted to "harassing" MLAs and calling them "black snakes", and added that such words should not be used for elected representatives.
Addressing media persons here, BJP spokesman Balbir Verma and former minister Chowdhary Sukhram said the chief minister was in panic and was wreaking vengeance by using intemperate language.
He said that 32 senior Congress leaders, including Lal Chand Kataria, Rajendra Yadav, Richhpal Mirdha and Vijaypal Mirdha joined BJP in Rajasthan and leaders like Gulam Nabi Azad, Rita Bahuguna, Jyotiraje Scindhia and Milan Devara left the Congress but no leader made such remarks against them.
During recent public meetings, Mr Sukhu referred to the six rebel Congress MLAs, who had voted in favour of the BJP's nominee in the recently held Rajya Sabha polls, as "six black snakes ('kala nag')".
The chief minister said the rebel leaders "sold their souls" to "destabilise" the government. He has also compared them to shepherds being moved from one place to another.
Speaking to media persons on Monday, BJP leaders Verma and Sukhram said that the Congress government did not have a majority in the assembly and has "no right to remain in power".
"Development works were already moving at slow pace and now it has come to a standstill as the chief minister was busy saving his chair," the BJP leaders said.
Six Congress rebels -- Sudhir Sharma, Ravi Thakur, Rajinder Rana, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Chetanya Sharma and Devinder Kumar Bhutto -- who cross-voted in favour of the BJP were disqualified for defying a whip to be present in the House and vote in favour of the government during the cut motion and budget.
The six Congress rebels and three Independent MLAs who had voted for the BJP candidate in the recent Rajya Sabha polls, in a joint statement, accused the government of getting false cases registered against them and their relatives to build pressure.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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