NEW DELHI: In the latest development in the ongoing political crisis in Himachal Pradesh, according to the top sources, Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu offered his resignation to the high command ahead of his meeting with the party’s central observers this morning.
Pratibha Singh is back in chief minister race, they added Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu refuted resignation speculations, saying his government will complete 5-year term
In the meantime the state assembly Speaker suspended 15 BJP MLAs, including Leader of Opposition Jairam Thakur. The development comes moments after Congress leader and minister Vikramaditya Singh resigned from his position as PWD minister this morning. Mr Singh levelled serious allegations against Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, accusing him of disregarding MLAs and showing disrespect to his late father, Virbhadra Singh, a prominent Congress leader in the state Vikramaditya Singh said he is not going to leave the party but now everything is in Congress high command’s court.
The Assembly Speaker has expelled 15 BJP MLAs, among them being the LoP Jairam Thakur, Vipin Singh Parmar, Randheer Sharma, Lokender Kumar, Vinod Kumar, Hans Raj, Janak Raj, Balbir Verma, Trilok Jamwal, Surender Shori, Deep Raj, Puran Thakur, Inder Singh Gandhi, Dileep Thakur, and Inder Singh Gandhi.
Meanwhile, several BJP MLAs led by Jairam Thakur today met Himachal Pradesh Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla, a day after the party won the lone Rajya Sabha seat in the state. The meeting comes amid a buzz over the BJP bringing a motion of no-confidence in the assembly against the Congress government in the state.The saffron BJP said that the Rajya Sabha elections made it clear that the Congress government was in minority in Himachal Pradesh and demanded Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu resign. The Congress has 40 MLAs and the BJP 25 in the 68-member state assembly. The remaining three seats are held by independents.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi lambasted the BJP, saying the saffron party wants to crush the rights of the people of Himachal by misusing the money power and power of probe agencies. “In democracy, the general public has the right to choose the government of their choice. The people of Himachal used this right and formed the Congress government with a clear majority. But BJP wants to crush this right of the people of Himachal by misusing the money power, power of agencies and power of the Centre.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has spoken to party observers, asking them to speak to all MLAs and submit a comprehensive report on the Himachal Pradesh crisis, said Congress leader Jairam Ramesh. He slammed the BJP, saying ‘Operation Lotus’ is on in Himachal Pradesh.
“Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar, former Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda and our incharge Rajeev Shukla are there. They have spoken with the Congress president. He has told them to meet and listen to all MLAs about their grievances and demands. But the conspiracy to topple the Congress government…what steps are to be taken by the party to tackle this ‘Operation Lotus’ – Congress president has told these senior colleagues to meet everyone and listen to what they have to say and present him a report at the earliest,” said Ramesh.
Congress government in the state landed into a big crisis after six party MLAs indulged in cross-voting causing a defeat to party candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi. Subsequently, BJP candidate for the Rajya Sabha polls from Himachal Pradesh, Harsh Mahajan emerged victorious in the election on Tuesday.
The BJP claimed that both Congress and BJP candidates received 34 votes each. The party further claimed that the decision regarding its victory was made by toss after both parties received equal number of votes. The BJP candidate won with the draw of lots.
(Bureau Report with Inputs from HP Desk).

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