The three-day inaugural session of the 14th Himachal Pradesh legislative assembly ended in the fashion it began — on a stormy note, as the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) staged a walkout over the speaker allowing members from the governing party, other than pre-decided names, to participate in the discussion over the governor’s address.
Highlighting that names of four members from the opposition side and three members of the ruling party had been fixed to participate in the discussion, BJP’s Vipin Singh Parmar said more names from the ruling side were included later.
Opposition members refused to budge even as the speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania ruled that it was his prerogative to decide to allow a certain member to speak and the same cannot be questioned.
Pathania later ruled that the chair has special powers, saying that he used the privilege to let members who expressed their willingness to participate in the discussion speak. He added that members of the opposition elected for the first time can also participate in the discussion if they wished, after which the opposition submitted a list of names.
Intervening in the matter, deputy chief minister Mukesh Agnihotri urged the opposition that the first session of the assembly was nearing its end and it should be concluded in a cordial manner. Unmoved, however, the opposition staged a walkout.
{{/usCountry}}Intervening in the matter, deputy chief minister Mukesh Agnihotri urged the opposition that the first session of the assembly was nearing its end and it should be concluded in a cordial manner. Unmoved, however, the opposition staged a walkout.
{{/usCountry}}Agnihotri later condemned the behaviour, saying “They disrupted the house when members were to take oath on the first day which was totally unconstitutional.” He also criticised the opposition for skipping the dinner hosted by the speaker on Thursday despite being invited.
“They are people rejected by the public and now are venting out their anger on us and you,” the deputy CM added.
War of words over guv’s address
The opposition had earlier cornered the government over its move to de-notify the institutions opened by the previous government and termed the governor’s customary policy address as visionless.
Leading the charge from the opposition, senior member Vipin Singh Parmar opposed the decision to de-notify the institutions opened during the tenure of the previous BJP government and appealed for its reconsideration. He said that the opening of these institutes facilitated the state’s people.
Parmar also questioned the government’s move to de-notify a police post opened in 1952 at Dahar, Sundernagar, before advising the officer to give correct information to the government.
He further attacked the government while highlighting the Congress’ poll plank of implementing the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) within 10 days of forming the government, providing one lakh jobs and ₹1,500 to the women above the age of 18.
“It has been nearly a month now since the government was formed but there has been no word on those promises,” he said.
The Congress party countered by asking the opposition to exhibit restraint and wait for at least six months to see the working.
Initiating the discussion on the motion of thanks on the governor’s address, Congress’ Sanjay Ratan urged the BJP to play the role of constructive opposition. Defending the government’s decision to de-notify around 900 institutions, he said they had been opened without proper budget provisions.
Seconding the motion of thanks, Congress member of assembly from Dharampur, Chander Shekhar demanded the government provide 120 days of employment to all Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) card-holders in the state.
Members Randhir Sharma, Hans Raj, ID Lakhanpal, Jagat Singh Negi, Vikramaditya Singh and Suresh Kumar also participated in the discussions. The motion of thanks was passed with voice vote.