Shimla, Feb 27: Amid cross-voting, BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan on Tuesday won the lone Rajya Sabha seat from Himachal Pradesh, defeating ruling Congress' Abhishek Manu Singhvi, officials said.

The contest was tied at 34-34 votes, after which Mahajan was declared winner by draw of lots, they said.

It is a major jolt for the Congress which has 40 MLAs in the 68-member state assembly and claimed support of the independents. The result made it clear that nine MLAs voted in favour of the BJP which was confident that Congress MLAs would exercise 'conscience vote'.

At present, the BJP has 25 MLAs in the state assembly.

Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.



Washington: US President Donald Trump has said he has not yet considered whether he would continue the ceasefire involving Iran, while also claiming the United States holds the advantage in negotiations.

Speaking to reporters, Trump said he was prepared to make a deal with “whoever is running the show” in Iran.

“They are fighting with each other, there’s tremendous infighting. They’re probably fighting for leadership in many cases. I think they’re fighting not to be leader because we knocked out two levels of leaders,” he said.

Trump added, “When they want they can call me. We have all the cards, we’ve won everything.”

Referring to ongoing negotiations, he said, “They gave us a paper that should’ve been better. And, interestingly, immediately when I cancelled it [envoy trip to Pakistan], within 10 minutes we got a new paper that was much better.”

“We talked about they will not have a nuclear weapon, very simple … They offered a lot, but not enough,” he added.

When asked whether he would continue the ceasefire, Trump replied, “I haven’t even thought about it.”

The remarks come as uncertainty remains over the future of the temporary truce and broader negotiations between Washington and Tehran.