Shimla:

Himachal minister Vikramaditya Singh has again landed the Congress leadership in trouble after he removed his official designation from his Facebook bio. Formerly identified as Public Works Minister and member of the Indian National Congress, his bio now simply reads “Servant of Himachal”. The Congress government in Himachal Pradesh almost fell after its defeat in the Rajya Sabha elections and has been in a state of conflict ever since.

Vikramaditya Singh, son of six-time former chief minister Virbhadra Singh, met other rebel Congress MLAs before leaving for New Delhi yesterday.

Sources say Mr Singh is likely to meet key BJP leaders in Delhi, including prominent people like former Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur and state president Rajeev Bindal.

He has publicly accused the Congress of insulting his father, even though he had sought votes in his name in the last assembly elections.

Along with this, the state government led by Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu has appointed Rampur MLA Nandlal as the chairman of Himachal Pradesh Finance Commission in place of Vikramaditya Singh. The move is being seen as a measure to address Mr Singh’s lack of support within the party.

On Wednesday, when the Congress was dealing with the challenge of cross-voting by MLAs, Vikramaditya Singh had announced his resignation. He accused the Chief Minister of being “negligent” towards his MLAs and broke down in tears while accusing the party of not allotting land for his father’s statue.

On the same day, Congress adopted a last ditch effort to save itself and expelled 15 BJP MLAs to reduce the effective strength of the House and pass the state budget.

Soon after this, Vikramaditya Singh withdrew his resignation.

The political saga will unfold in the Himachal Pradesh Cabinet meeting today at 11 am. The crisis escalated when six rebels and three independent MLAs, who had expressed their support, voted for the BJP candidate in this week’s Rajya Sabha elections and were then taken over by the party.

The Chief Minister has accused the rebel MLAs who voted against the party of being ‘black snakes’ who have sold their honour. “Those who sell their honor for money, how can they serve the people of their constituency,” Mr Sukhu said while addressing a public meeting in Dharampur.

He said, in political life, those who betray the party which gave them the opportunity to contest elections are called “black snakes”.