Haryana: Nayab Saini-led BJP govt wins confidence motion by voice vote

Chandigarh: Nayab Singh Saini-led BJP government in Haryana on Wednesday won the trust vote by voice vote in the state assembly here, a day after he took oath as the new chief minister.

The Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) MLAs left the House when the trust vote was taken up. The JJP had issued a whip, asking its 10 legislators to remain absent from the Assembly during voting on the confidence motion.

Speaker Gian Chand Gupta put the trust vote for voting by voice vote which the Saini government won.

Former state home minister and senior BJP leader Anil Vij was present in the House.

During the voice vote, besides JJP's 10 MLAs, lone legislator of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) was also not present in the House.

Congress members asked Speaker Gupta to conduct voting through secret ballot but he refused saying there was no provision in the rules for the same.

Earlier, Saini had moved a motion to seek a vote of confidence in the assembly. A two-hour discussion took place on the motion.

Speaking in the House, Saini said, "Our government not only has the trust of the MLAs, but we also have trust of people of Haryana." JJP MLAs Devender Singh Babli, Ram Kumar Gautam, Ishwar Singh, Ram Niwas and Jogi Ram Sihag left the House when the trust vote was taken up.

In the 90-member state assembly, the BJP has 41 members, and it also enjoys the support of six of the seven independents as well as of lone Haryana Lokhit Party MLA Gopal Kanda. The main opposition Congress has 30 MLAs.

The BJP was comfortably placed in Haryana assembly even without the JJP's support.

The BJP named Saini as Haryana's new chief minister on Tuesday, hours after the surprise resignation of Manohar Lal Khattar from the post along with his cabinet ministers.

During the discussion on the trust vote, Chief Minister Saini praised Khattar for the works undertaken during his nine-year-long tenure.

He said it is his first day in the House as Chief Minister and Leader of the House.

Saini also recalled his days when he was a member of the House during 2014-2019.

"During that time I was told that I had to contest Lok Sabha polls. At that time, I was a minister in the Haryana government. When the party desired that I contest LS polls, I abided by that.

"When the party entrusted me with the new responsibility, I am here to take up the latest assignment," he said.

The new chief minister said he comes from an ordinary background and no other member from his family was in politics.

"The BJP gave me a great honour. The party made an ordinary member its state unit president and then entrusted responsibility of chief minister. This is possible only in the BJP," he said.

Praising Khattar, Saini said he has learnt a lot from him.

Under the leadership of Khattar, the state presented good governance model in the entire country. Several development works were undertaken by the Khattar dispensation, said Saini.

Before the chief minister moved the confidence motion, Congress MLAs sought to know from Speaker Gupta about the urgency of convening the Assembly session.

"There was no emergency," senior Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda said and claimed that proper time was not given to the MLAs.

Party MLA B B Batra asked, "What was the urgency of convening the session?" Hooda asked the Speaker to adjourn the session for at least one hour so that the legislators could reach the assembly. To this, the Speaker said it was the duty of the members to reach the House on time.

Gupta, however, said, "Let the discussion take place and in the meantime, the members can reach the House." Participating in the discussion, Hooda said in 2019, the BJP formed government in alliance with the JJP.

But the BJP-JJP government failed on all fronts and the BJP had to change its chief minister, he alleged.

The former Haryana chief minister said it is for the first time that a party (JJP) is issuing whip to its members to remain absent from the House. "What does this mean. This shows that both BJP and JJP are hand-in-glove," he said.

The JJP members should have been present and voted against this government, but people know what they are doing, said Hooda.

This is a stop-gap arrangement, he said, while claiming Saini is playing the role of "night watchman".

Don't deceive the public, dissolve the House and seek fresh mandate, demanded Hooda.

Congress MLA Raghuvir Singh Kadian opposed the trust vote and took on the state government over the issues of farmers' plight, law and order, unemployment, alleged liquor scam and cooperative scam.

"So many scams -- liquor scam, registry scam, cooperative scam -- took place. Corruption is rampant, law and order has collapsed and unemployment is at its peak. Does the government not have any responsibility towards its citizens?" he asked.

Describing Chief Minister Saini as a gentle person, Kadian claimed the BJP leader has been made a "scapegoat" by being handed over the crown when the state was passing through "unstable times".

"President's rule should be imposed in the situation that prevails. We stand in opposition to this trust vote. If the voting is held through secret ballot, at least five members from the treasury benches will oppose it," the Congress MLA said.

Participating in the discussion, Independent MLA Ranjit Singh Chautala, a minister in the Saini Cabinet, said, "Prime Minister Narendra Modi has become 'Jannayak' (mass leader). The situation in the Congress is such that their leaders are disillusioned and are leaving the party." After taking oath of office on Tuesday evening, Saini had said they presented a letter of support of 48 MLAs to the governor and asked him to convene an assembly session on Wednesday to prove its majority in the House.