RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia plunged deeper into political turmoil Monday as Gov. Ralph Northam told aides he was not planning to step down, and his own lieutenant governor suggested Northam’s supporters were behind an effort to smear him with claims of sexual assault to block his ascent if the governor resigned.

Dazed lawmakers arriving here for their legislative session said they did not know how much longer Northam would be governor or whether Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax would replace him amid the growing tensions between the state’s two top leaders, both Democrats.

“Everybody is shaking their heads, nobody knows what’s going to happen,” said state Sen. Creigh Deeds, a Democrat.

The cascade of events began Monday morning when Northam met with his Cabinet and then with his staff, some of whom have urged him to quit over questions about a racist photograph that appeared on his medical school yearbook page.

Northam told his Cabinet members that he wanted time to clear his name and would remain in office for now, according to a Democrat familiar with the meeting.

But a state that prides itself on its decorum was thrown into further chaos when Fairfax emphatically denied a woman’s claim that he had sexually assaulted her in 2004, and indicated that Northam’s allies were plotting against him to keep him from assuming the governor’s post if Northam resigned.

“Does anybody think it’s any coincidence that on the eve of potentially my being elevated that that’s when this uncorroborated smear comes out?” Fairfax told a group of reporters Monday afternoon, when asked whether Northam was responsible for the accusations becoming public.

Speaking to reporters Monday evening, Fairfax adjusted his stance slightly, saying he had “no indication” that Northam himself was behind the publication of the sexual assault allegations.

Northam first came under fire Friday when a photograph was published online showing people dressed in blackface and Ku Klux Klan robes on his 1984 yearbook page from Eastern Virginia Medical School. After initially acknowledging that it was him in the photograph and apologizing, the governor reversed course Saturday and said he was sure it was not him.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.