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Assembly winter session: Opposition skips all party meet, stormy session expected
The Opposition having skipped the all-party meeting is directly pointing towards the possibility of a stormy start of the session
The Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) skipped the all-party meeting called by the assembly speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania, a day before the four-day winter session of the Himachal Legislative assembly is set to commence in Dharamshala, on Tuesday.
The Opposition having skipped the all-party meeting is directly pointing towards the possibility of a stormy start of the session. From the ruling Congress, the Parliamentary affairs minister Harshwardhan Chauhan and deputy chief whip of the Himachal government Kewal Singh Pathania attended the meeting.
Notably, the Opposition had skipped the all-party meeting convened by the speaker before the monsoon session of the assembly held in August as well.
Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania said, “Although the Leader of Opposition had agreed to attend the meeting on the request of the legislative assembly secretariat, he still did not attend the meeting and neither did any member of his party attend the meeting.
Pathania urged all the members of the assembly to raise the issues of their constituencies within the ambit of the rules have a meaningful discussion on it and get a reply from the government.
BJP faces criticism
Parliamentary affairs minister Harshwardhan Chauhan criticised the Opposition for not attending the all-party meeting. “This tradition of convening an all-party meeting before the assembly session has been going on for many years now. Unfortunately, the BJP has broken this long-standing tradition for the second time. No representative from the BJP attended the meeting,” Chauhan said.
He further said, “I have raised the concern with the Speaker that if the Opposition chooses not to attend these meetings, then there is no point in continuing this tradition. It seems the BJP is not interested in extending its cooperation to ensure the smooth functioning of the House.”
Addressing the media at the Tapovan assembly premises on Tuesday, Kuldeep Singh Pathania said the Vidhan Sabha Secretariat has received a total of 316 questions from members for the winter session. Of these, 248 are starred questions and 68 are unstarred, which will be raised in the House by the members.
Pathania further informed that during the four meetings of the winter session, members will hold discussions in the House under various rules. Specifically, 5 subjects will be discussed under Rule 62, 1 under Rule 63, 5 under Rule 101, and 3 under Rule 130.
The assembly that the government will table 15 bills during the session.
Zero hour introduced
In a first, the speaker introduced zero hours for the winter assembly session. The zero hour--12 pm to 12.30 pm--will be after the question hour.
He explained that members wishing to raise topics must inform the Vidhan Sabha Secretary at least one and a half hours before the session begins. Each member is allowed to raise a maximum of two topics during Zero Hour. While the discussions on many issues will not happen, departmental ministries may respond if they wish to do so.
BJP ready to corner govt over various issues
The winter session is expected to have a stormy start with the Opposition BJP already gearing up to corner the Congress government over many issues both inside and outside the House. On the first day of the session (December 18), the BJP will hold a protest rally (Aakrosh Pradarshan) in Dharamshala’s Zorawar stadium against the two years of Congress government’s “misrule”. The opposition leaders are expected to corner the government over its alleged discrimination with the Kangra district.
