The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Haryana, led by new Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, won the vote of confidence via voice vote in the State Assembly.
A special session of the Haryana State Assembly was convened here to prove the majority on the floor of the House, after Mr. Saini was on March 12 sworn-in as the new chief minister, replacing Manohar Lal Khattar.
Following discussions by members of the ruling party and the Opposition, the vote of confidence motion was passed by a voice vote. In his address, Mr. Saini said that just as the State saw all-round development in the past nine-and-a-half years under the leadership of Mr. Khattar, the present government would work hard to serve the people of the State.
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In the 90-member State Assembly, the BJP has 41 MLAs, and with six independents and one MLA of the Haryana Lokhit Party extending support to the BJP, the government enjoys a comfortable majority. The main Opposition Congress has 30 MLAs, while the Indian National Lok Dal has one.
Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), the BJP’s former ally, had issued a whip, asking its 10 MLAs to remain absent from the House during voting on the confidence motion. JJP MLAs Devender Singh Babli, Ram Kumar Gautam, Ishwar Singh, Ram Niwas, and Jogi Ram Sihag, who were in the House, left when the trust vote was taken up.
The Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly, Congress’ Bhupinder Singh Hooda, said the BJP could keep changing Chief Ministers but the Congress would change the government itself. Speaking during the trust vote on the breaking up of the BJP-JJP alliance, Mr. Hooda said the present government had completely lost the trust of the public and thus had no right to remain in power.
Meanwhile, Mr. Lal announced his resignation from the Karnal Assembly seat to vacate it for Mr. Saini. Mr. Khattar has been declared the BJP’s candidate from the Karnal Lok Sabha seat.
