Six former Himachal Pradesh Congress MLAs, who were disqualified after they defied a party whip and cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha polls last month, joined the BJP on Saturday.

Three other independent MLAs, who had also voted in favour of the BJP candidate and resigned from the Assembly on Friday, have announced their decision to join the saffron party.

The move could spell trouble for the crisis-ridden Congress government in the hill state. Congress’s Abhishek Manu Singhvi had lost the Rajya Sabha polls to BJP’s Harsh Mahajan in a draw of lots forced after a tie because of cross-voting by the six Congress MLAs.

By-elections are scheduled in all the six Assembly segments represented by the rebel Congress leaders and the BJP could move to destabilise the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu government in the state if the numbers turn in their favour after the results. By-elections could also be held on the three other seats represented by the independents who have resigned from the Assembly.

The by-elections will be held along with the Lok Sabha polls in Himachal on June 1. All the rebels are likely to contest as BJP nominees in the by-elections.

The Congress, which had 40 MLAs in the 68-member Himachal Assembly, has been reduced to 34 (including the Speaker). The BJP commands a strength of 25 but hopes
the numbers will change post the bypolls.

Top BJP leaders led by information and broadcasting minister Anurag Singh Thakur and former Himachal chief minister Jairam Thakur welcomed the leaders at the party headquarters.

The six Congress leaders who joined the BJP were Sudhir Sharma, Rajinder Rana, Ravi Thakur, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Devinder Bhutto and Chetanya Sharma. Most of them are two or three-term MLAs and have held key positions in the Congress in Himachal.

“People’s anger against the Congress government in Himachal had come out through the rebellion of these MLAs,” Anurag Thakur, who hails from the hill state, said. “The BJP will be strengthened in Himachal with the joining of these leaders.” He accused the Congress government of giving “false guarantees” to the people to win the polls.

The Congress had defeated the BJP in the Assembly polls held in 2022. Sukhu, a Gandhi family loyalist, was picked as the chief minister, ignoring the claims of the dominant former chief minister Virbhadra Singh’s family members. All the six rebels are close to the Virbhadra family.

“Our self-respect was being hurt repeatedly. The Congress high command has no vision for the country,” said Sudhir Sharma, one of the rebels.

On his reason for cross-voting, Sharma said. “Singhvi (Congress candidate) had opposed the Ram temple in the court. How could we have voted for him?” Sharma said.