Haryana Assembly session not convened for six months as BJP did not have majority: Congress

New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday said Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya dissolved the assembly to avert a constitutional crisis and claimed that its session was deliberately not convened for six months as, once the MLAs came to the House, it would have been proven that the BJP did not have a majority.

The Congress' assertion came after Dattatreya dissolved the assembly with immediate effect, a day after the state Cabinet recommended the move to avoid summoning the House before expiry of the six-month period from the last sitting.

The term of the current Vidhan Sabha expires on November 3.

In a post in Hindi on X, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the Haryana governor dissolved the assembly to avert a constitutional crisis triggered by the state government's failure to convene a session from March 13, a day after Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini was sworn in.

"The assembly session was deliberately not convened for six months, as once the MLAs came to the House, it would have proved once and for all that the BJP does not have a majority in the assembly," Ramesh said.

The chief minister continued in his post knowing that he did not have the mandate, he claimed.

"This is a travesty of democracy by a party that no longer understands how to survive without a grip on power," Ramesh said.

But after October 8, it will have no choice but to adjust to the new reality, he added.

The Haryana Cabinet on Wednesday recommended to Dattatreya to dissolve the assembly to avoid summoning the House before the expiry of the six-month period from the last sitting.

After the governor's move to dissolve the assembly, the Saini government will continue as a caretaker government till a new one is formed, sources said.

The Haryana Assembly's last session was held on March 13 when the Saini government won a trust vote and the next session had to be convened by September 12.

Saini replaced Manohar Lal Khattar as chief minister in March. Khattar is now a Union minister.

Elections have already been announced in Haryana. The state goes to the polls on October 5 and the results will be out on October 8.

In the 90-member assembly, which has been dissolved now, the BJP had 41 members, including the speaker, the Congress 28, the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) six, the Haryana Lokhit Party and the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) one each, and Independents four.

Nine seats were vacant at the time of its dissolution.