With the Congress' no-confidence motion against the BJP-JJP government set to be taken up in the Haryana Assembly on Wednesday, the ruling BJP-JJP as well as main the opposition party have issued whips to their respective members for their compulsory presence in the House.
Haryana minister and BJP's chief whip Kanwar Pal said, "All the members of the Bharatiya Janata Legislature Party are requested to remain present in the House throughout the 10th day of March during the current budget session of Haryana Vidhan Sabha. They should not leave the chamber without prior permission of the leader. The members are requested to be present at the time of division/voting".
Even protesting farm union leaders have urged the people and legislators, especially the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), to lobby their representatives in the assembly to support the motion.
Leader of Opposition and two-time Chief Minister Bhupinder Hooda said the no-confidence motion would help clearing the picture that "who are supporting the cause of farmers and who are not".
Hooda said the no-confidence motion was required as the government has lost public confidence and taking anti-people decisions.
The motion was moved by Hooda and signed by 23 Congress MLAs. It was approved by Speaker Gian Chand Gupta on March 5 for discussion.
Hooda had also said that his party plans to bring many "Adjournment" and "Calling Attention" motions to draw the attention of the government to the multitude of problems faced by the people of the state.
"The Congress is going to bring no-confidence motion, Minimum Support Price (MSP) guarantee bill, many adjournments and calling attention motion against the government. We will seek answers on issues such as farmers' neglect, rising unemployment, changes in domicile regulations, rising crime, paper leaks, liquor and registry scams," he said.
The JJP has also been facing criticism within the party too for not walking out of the alliance on the issue of farmers and 'clinging to power'.
In an alliance, the JJP had extended support to the BJP, which won 40 seats in the Assembly polls in 2019, six short of the majority mark.
Bharatiya Kisan Union chief Gurnam Singh Charuni said the no-confidence motion against the government was crucial.
In a video message, he said: "Residents of the state should protest in front of the residences of legislators, who have been supporting the state government. They should warn the leaders that they would face social and political boycott if they continued to support the laws."
However, a confident Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar told the media that "it is for the Congress to keep its flock together as there is no threat to his government".
In the 90-member Haryana Assembly, currently having an effective strength of 88 members, the ruling BJP has 40 members, the JJP 10 and the Congress 30. Seven are Independents, five of whom are supporting the government, while one member is of the Haryana Lokhit Party, who has also extended support to the government.
The BJP-JJP alliance has a majority with 50 legislators.
(With agency inputs)
