Himachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania on Wednesday suspended 15 BJP MLAs, including leader of Opposition Jairam Thakur, for allegedly shouting slogans and misconduct in the Chamber of Speaker.

The other 14 suspended BJP MLAs include Vipin Singh Parmar, Randheer Sharma, Lokender Kumar, Vinod Kumar, Hans Raj, Janak Raj, Balbir Verma, Trilok Jamwal, Surender Shori, Deep Raj, Puran Thakur, Inder Singh Gandhi, Dileep Thakur and Inder Singh Gandhi.

“We are apprehensive that Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania might suspend the BJP MLAs so that the budget can be passed in the Vidhan Sabha,” Jairam Thakur told reporters earlier in the morning.

He said the Rajya Sabha election had made it clear that the Congress government was in the minority and demanded the resignation of chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu.

The move comes a day after the BJP on Tuesday won Himachal Pradesh’s lone Rajya Sabha seat with its candidate Harsh Mahajan defeating Congress stalwart Abhishek Manu Singhvi due to cross-voting by MLAs of the state’s ruling Congress party.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.