"My Younger Brother": Himachal CM Sukhu Denies Accepting Vikramaditya Singh's Resignation; Congress Observers Reach Shimla Amid Crisis

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu not only denied rumours of his resignation after the Congress candidate lost the Rajya Sabha election but also denied accepting Vikramaditya Singh's resignation.

Vikramaditya is the son of six-time Himachal CM late Virbhadra Singh and was a minister in the Sukhu cabinet. He resigned earlier today citing that enough respect was not shown to his late father and that MLAs were overlooked.

Responding to it, Sukhu said, "I have spoken with Vikramaditya Singh and he is my younger brother. Resignation is just symbolic. There is no reason to accept his resignation. He has some grievances that will be solved."

On his own resignation, Sukhu said, "Neither has anyone asked for my resignation nor have I given my resignation to anyone. We will prove the majority. Those MLAs who went to the BJP are also in our contact."

Earlier, the Leader of Opposition, BJP's Jairam Thakur had claimed that Sukhu had resigned. He also claimed that Congress does not have a majority and hence suspended 15 BJP MLAs, so that it could pass the budget.

In the Rajya Sabha election held yesterday, Congress candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi lost to BJP's Harsh Mahajan after a tie at 34 votes each. BJP has 25 MLAs and three Independents and six Congress MLAs voted for BJP.

While the MLAs, who cross-voted were sent to Haryana's Panchkula, Congress sent its senior leaders Bhupendra Singh Hooda and DK Shivakumar as observers to manage the crisis over Sukhu government.