Amidst political mayhem in Himachal Pradesh, three independent MLAs resigned from the State Legislative Assembly on Friday.

The turn of events in the political dynamics ensued after six Congress MLAs and three independent MLAs cross-voted in favour of BJP’s Rajya Sabha candidate Harsh Mahajan, rendering a shocking defeat to Congress candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi. This despite the fact that the Congress was in a majority with 40 legislators, BJP had 25 seats while independent members were three in number in the 68-member House.

The independent MLAs include Hoshyar Singh, a two-time MLA from Dehra, K L Thakur from Nalaghar, and Ashish Sharma from Hamirpur.

Later, speaking to media persons after submitting their resignations, they expressed their intention to join the BJP.

“Our conscience did not allow us to let any outsider win the lone Rajya Sabha seat. It was our personal decision to cast vote in favour of Harsh Mahajan. We will join the BJP and contest elections under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and J P Nadda with the sole aim of strengthening the state,” Hoshyar Singh said.

Ashish Sharma said, “We resigned from the Congress not to pursue any self-interest or under any pressure but in the interest of the people of the state and our constituency.”

Sharma further said that the progress of the state under the leadership of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has come to a standstill in all respects, be it developmental works or providing employment opportunities to the youth. “Our stance reflects our discontent with the CM,” he added.

The standard of politics has degraded in the state, and this is evident from the manner in which the Chief Minister has been unleashing atrocities on the families of the rebel MLAs, they said.

They accused the Chief Minister of orchestrating the registration of false FIRs against them to harass their families.

The independent MLAs, too, cited discrimination on part of the Chief Minister due to which they could not fulfil the electoral promises made to the people of their respective constituencies.

However, CM Sukhu vehemently denied the accusation of discrimination levelled by the independent MLAs.

“These independent MLAs are not affiliated to any party. Instead of resigning, they should have worked in the interest of those who elected them,” Sukhu said, adding that the factors that prompted them to resign must be looked into thoroughly.

“What kind of pressure led to their resignation? There must be something wrong,” he said and blamed the BJP for engaging in political tactics to destabilise an elected government.