The BJP’s cliffhanger win in the Himachal Pradesh Rajya Sabha elections on Tuesday has destabilised the Congress government, with the opposition saying that the Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukku has lost majority in the assembly to remain in power.

Himachal Pradesh Leader of Opposition Jairam Thakur along with BJP’s legislative party met Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla at Raj Bhawan in Shimla and later told the media that his party fears that the Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania will not accept their demand for a division of vote ahead of passing budget since they lost numbers in the House.

The Congress also swiftly moved into damage control and issued a show cause notice to six Congress MLAs for cross-voting in favour of BJP and suspended 15 BJP MLAs from the assembly including Thakur on the grounds of unruly behaviour in the House.

But, Congress suffered another blow as its MLA and minister Vikramaditya Singh, son of former CM Virbhadra Singh, resigned from the party expressing his differences with Sukku openly with media. The CM later said he has not accepted his resignation.

Sukku, however, insisted that his government would complete five years in office. “Neither the high command has asked me nor anyone else for resignation and there is no such thing,” he stated. He accepted that “some mistakes may have been made and because of those mistakes, there may have been some deficiencies” – an oblique reference to what rebel Congress legislators have talking about as the reason for them to cross vote in favour of the BJP.

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An AICC delegation of two members – former Haryana CM Bupender Singh Hodda and Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivkumar – also reached Shimla to assess the ground situation and ensure Congress government survives the turmoil in the hill state.

The Congress originally had 40 members while the BJP had 25 and 3 MLAs are independent in the 68-member Himachal Pradesh Assembly. Thakur claimed that he has the support of six Congress MLAs and three independents which takes the BJP tally to 34, which is the half way mark of the assembly’s strength.

Cross-voting

BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan defeated Congress nominee and senior Supreme Court lawyer Dr Abhishek Manu Shinghvi after a tie in the voting after six ruling party and three independent legislators cross voted.

Harsh Mahajan claimed today that the BJP is going to form government in the state since some more MLAs of Congress are in touch with them. “I got phone calls from some of their MLAs and ministers...The situation is going to change in the next few hours and you will see BJP will form its govt soon,” he stated.

Mahajan claimed that the people are upset with the Sukhu government and that’s why all good leaders are joining BJP.

The BJP has not only benefited from cross-voting in Himachal, but it also managed to outwit the Samajwadi Party sweeping 8 of 10 seats in Uttar Pradesh. It was, however, a victim of rebellion during the Rajya Sabha polls in Karnataka.

BJP’s tally in Rajya Sabha

All three candidates of Congress won the elections in Karnataka after two BJP MLAs unhappy with the party voted against political allegiance. The BJP managed to win the fourth seat, taking its tally to 10 out of 15 Rajya Sabha seats that went to polls on Tuesday.

With the latest round of victories, the BJP’s tally in Rajya Sabha has reached 119, including five nominated MPs who joined the party which is two short of the majority mark in the Upper.

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