Rajya Sabha Poll Results: After Congress lost the lone Rajya Sabha seat in Himachal Pradesh to the BJP after six MLAs of the 'Grand Old Party' cross-voted in the polls, the rebel lawmakers are now demanding the party to replace the chief minister, sources have said.
One of the rebel Congress MLAs Rajinder Rana has demanded that Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu be replaced as the state's chief minister. He further said that many other rebel MLAs are not happy with Sukhu.
The party has asked Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar and former Haryana CM Bhupender Hooda to resolve the crisis.
Meanwhile, all the BJP MLAs in Himachal Pradesh and ex-CM Jairam Thakur will be meeting Himachal Pradesh Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla.
'Shock' defeat for Congress in Himachal
The Congress on Tuesday suffered a major upset in Himachal Pradesh at the hands of the BJP in the Rajya Sabha elections which were marred by cross-voting in all the three states though it won three seats in Karnataka while the saffron party pocketed an extra seat in Uttar Pradesh.
Polling was held for 10 seats in Uttar Pradesh, four in Karnataka and one seat in Himachal Pradesh.
On February 20, 41 candidates including BJP chief JP Nadda, former Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Union ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and L Murugan were elected unopposed to the Upper House.
Himachal Pradesh saw cross-voting that led to the victory of BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan over Congress's Abhishek Manu Singhvi. Mahajan was declared winner by draw of lots after both the candidates were tied, securing 34 votes each.
The result made it clear that six Congress MLAs and the three Independents voted in favour of the BJP. At present, the Congress has 40 MLAs, BJP 25 while three are independents in the 68-member Himachal Pradesh assembly.
Singhvi said the BJP's move to field a candidate against a party which has 40 members compared to its 25 was a clear message that the saffron party wants to win by hook or crook and more by crook.
With inputs from PTI
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