Another crisis looms large over the Congress-led Himachal Pradesh Government as nine former MLAs, including six disqualified Congress legislators and three Independents, joined the BJP on Saturday.

After the disqualification of the six Congress MLAs following the Rajya Sabha elections goof-up in the State last month, the ruling party's strength decreased from 39 to 33 in the now 62-member Assembly, down from its original strength of 68.

The BJP, on the other hand, has 25 members.

Amid the continuing political crisis in the State, the Speaker, who can vote only in the case of a tie during a floor test, is affiliated with the Congress. The resignations of the three Independent MLAs have further reduced the Assembly's strength.

The Congress Government plunged into crisis last month after the BJP won the Rajya Sabha poll for the State's lone seat with the support of these nine MLAs.

Although Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has been putting up a brave face and there appears to be no immediate threat to his Government, the BJP aims to bring down his dispensation through bypoll wins, anticipating that it may attract more legislators from the ruling party into its fold.

The Election Commission has already announced bypolls for the six constituencies held by these former Congress MLAs, and bypolls are expected to be announced for the three seats held by the Independents as well.

The former MLAs, who joined the BJP in the presence of Union Minister Anurag Thakur, former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, its national general secretary Arun Singh, and State unit president Rajeev Bindal, said development work has been stalled since the Congress Government came into power in the State headed by Sukhu. Welcoming the former MLAs into the party, Thakur said their presence would further strengthen the BJP as he accused the Congress Government in the State of failing to fulfil its promises, leading to anger among people.

Thakur said six of the former lawmakers, despite being Congress MLAs, supported the BJP in the recent Rajya Sabha election as they chose to reflect the "public anger" against the Sukhu Government.

The former Congress MLAs who joined the BJP are Sudhir Sharma, Ravi Thakur, Rajinder Rana, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Chetanya Sharma and Devinder Kumar Bhutto — all disqualified on February 29 for defying a party whip to be present in the House and vote in favour of the State Government during a cut motion and Budget.

Ashish Sharma, Hoshiyar Singh and KL Thakur, who were elected as Independents and resigned on Friday, also joined the BJP, with Singh saying they decided to be part of the country's development journey under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.