However, no immediate threat of the government falling; Constitution provides cushion of 4 more months; assembly elections due in Sept-Oct
Weeks ahead of the May 25 Lok Sabha polls in the state, three of the independent Haryana MLAs supporting the Nayab Singh Saini led BJP government on Tuesday (07.05.2024) announced that they are withdrawing their support to the government and henceforth will be supporting the Congress, reducing the government to a minority, but with no immediate threat of the government falling.
Though the three MLAs – Sombir Sangwan from Charkhi Dadri, Dharampal Gondar from Nilokheri, and Randhir Gollen from Pundri – made the announcement in the presence of former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and state Congress president Udai Bhan at a press conference in Rohtak, they are yet to convey their withdrawal of support decision in writing to the Vidhan Sabha speaker.
Earlier, there was speculation that a fourth independent MLA supporting the government – Rakesh Daulatabad from Badshapur – would also join them in announcing the decision but at the time of the evening press conference only these three turned up.
At the press conference, state Congress president Udai Bhan asserted that the BJP with 40 MLAs in the 90-member vidhan sabha (with a current strength of 88), and needing support of 45 members for a majority, had been reduced to a minority. Therefore, the Nayab Singh Saini government had no moral right to stay in office. The chief minister should resign immediately and fresh elections should be held to the Vidhan Sabha, he added.
On the other hand Hooda demanded imposition of President’s rule in the state.
However, this is unlikely to happen because of the constitutional provision which provides cushion of four more months to the Nayab Singh Saini government, which successfully defeated a no-confidence motion piloted by the Congress on March 13, 2024 immediately after Manohar Lal unexpectedly resigned as chief minister and Saini took over from him.
At that time the BJP government had been supported by these three and other independent MLAs along with some legislators from the JJP despite the BJP-JJP having earlier broken off their more than four years post-poll alliance. As per a constitutional provision, no-confidence motion cannot be brought up in the state assembly for six months from the date of the last motion.
Even otherwise, with assembly elections due to be held in the state in September-October this year, no party, including the Congress, would seriously try to topple the government. Congress, the second largest party in the state assembly, with 30 MLAs, 10 less than the ruling BJP, does not find itself in a comfortable position to muster a majority.
It was widely anticipated that the independent MLAs, who supported the Nayab Singh Saini government sail through the no-confidence motion, will be accommodated in the new ministry, but that did not happen, which could be one of the reasons for three of them to switch their support to the Congress.
It remains to be seen how much this switchover will help the Congress in its electoral prospects both in the forthcoming Lok Sabha, as well as the following Vidhan Sabha elections.
By striking an unequal alliance with its now INDIA block partner AAP – it is contesting three Lok Sabha seats (Chandni Chowk, North East Delhi, and North West Delhi), leaving the remaining four (New Delhi, South Delhi, West Delhi, and East Delhi) to the ruling party in the state – the Congress was hoping to stop the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and pick up a few seats to safeguard its existence in Delhi.
The Arabic word ‘sawaraiim’ (literally meaning clashing of the swords) used in the mail id has reportedly been used by the dreaded international terror group Islamic State since 2014 to spread its propaganda.
Sam Pitroda Kicks Off Political Storm With ‘Racial’ Comments, Resigns After Cong Distances Itself
After Supriya Shrinate’s ‘Mandi rate’ comment on noted actress Kangana Ranaut getting the BJP ticket to contest the Mandi Lok Sabha seat in Himachal Pradesh, and Randeep Singh Surjewala’s controversial reference to the saffron party’s Mathura MP and evergreen ‘Dream Girl’ Hema Malini, the Congress jug of embarrassments finally appears to have spilled over.
Then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s famous modernization and digitalization days advisor Sam Pitroda has been ensnared in the eye of a political storm by making comparisons of Indians from different parts of the country to people from other countries, continents and races, which have been orchestrated as being “racist”, sending a deeply embarrassed Congress scurrying for cover.
Within hours of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other BJP leaders beginning to rake up Pitroda’s comments to attack the Congress, terming the party “racist”, the grand old party was compelled to distance itself from the comments, calling them “unfortunate and unacceptable”. Taking the fire-fighting further, the party later announced that Pitroda has resigned as Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress on his own will.
Congress General Secretary in-charge Communications Jairam Ramesh posted on X: “The analogies drawn by Mr Sam Pitroda in a podcast to illustrate India’s diversity are most unfortunate and unacceptable. The Indian National Congress completely dissociates itself from these analogies.”
In another X post later he declared that “Mr Sam Pitroda has decided to step down as Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress of his own accord. The Congress President has accepted his decision.”
In a recent interview with The Statesman, Pitroda had said: “We could hold together a country as diverse as India — where people on East look like Chinese, people on West look like Arab, people on North look like, maybe, White!, and people in South look like Africans. It doesn’t matter. We are all brothers and sisters.”
Though apparently Pitroda may not have meant his comments to be racist in nature, and said it in a lighter vein, in a surcharged election atmosphere it provided the BJP with enough gunpowder to blast the Congress.
Addressing an election rally in Telangana, Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanded a response from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, asserting that the country “won’t tolerate disrespect on the basis of the colour of skin”. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman lashed out at Sam Pitroda for his “racist” remark, saying that it reveals the mindset and attitude of Rahul Gandhi’s “mentor”.
Who is Sam Pitroda?
Sam Pitroda, an information and communications technology (ICT) expert with 50 years of experience in the field, was advisor to then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi during the 1980s, in the rank of Union cabinet minister. During the time, he led among other critical projects, six technology missions in the country related to telecommunications, water, literacy, immunization, dairy production, and oil seeds.
His profile on his website says that Pitroda is a serial entrepreneur having started several companies in the United States. He holds around 20 honorary PhD’s, close to 100 worldwide patents, and has published five books and numerous papers and lectured widely all over the world. He lives in Chicago.