Tensions run high in Himachal cabinet meeting as 2 ministers leave midway after ‘heated debate’
Public works minister Vikramaditya Singh and parliamentary affairs minister Harshwardhan Chauhan also remained absent from the cabinet meeting
High drama was witnessed during the Himachal Pradesh cabinet meeting on Saturday with ministers Jagat Negi and Rohit Thakur leaving midway following a “heated debate” over policy decisions, officials said. Public works minister Vikramaditya Singh and industries minister Harshwardhan Chauhan also absent from the meeting.
Education minister Thakur, however, returned after being pacified by deputy chief minister Mukesh Agnihotri, they said.
Sources aware of the developments said that Rohit Thakur left after a “heated debate over a disagreement in decisions regarding the education department”. Thakur, however, addressed the media later and said that he had left as he was “emotionally disturbed because of personal reasons.”
“We are Pahari people and we get emotional, I dropped my son at his hostel in the morning,” he said.
Agnihotri met the education minister in his chamber, with the latter then returning to the cabinet meeting.
The meeting, which was the second gathering of ministers in three days, was aimed at addressing the “growing discontent among ministers towards chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s leadership,” the sources said.
In what seemed like an attempt to underplay the tensions, Sukhu asked Thakur to brief the media about the decisions taken by his government in the cabinet meeting. He was accompanied by Rajesh Dharmani and Yadavinder Goma at the press conference.
Thakur’s relationship with the chief minister was further strained when the technical education department was reassigned to newly-inducted minister Dharmani in the recent cabinet rejig. Thakur was then given the additional responsibility of printing and stationary.
Chauhan, who was absent from the meeting, had also lost Ayush department in the rejig. He was the assigned the labour and employment department. Vikramaditya Singh is on a visit to Rajasthan’s Udaipur for “personal work”.
On Friday, Sukhu presided over the 44th meeting of Himachal Pradesh Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board. However, Chauhan, who also has the charge of industries minister, was reportedly dissatisfied by not bring invited to the meeting. Sources say that repeated interference of Doon MLA and chief parliamentary secretary Ram Kumar, who is attached to the industries minister, have also added to the discontent. Kumar is a close associate of Sukhu. Harshwardhan Chauhan’s office said that the minister was in Chandigarh for a routine health check-up. Chauhan is a five-time legislator from Shillai assembly segment in Sirmaur district.
Vikramaditya created ripples by offering his resignation the day after six Congress legislators cross-voted in Rajya Sabha polls, leading the defeat of the senior leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi against Bharatiya Janata Party’s Harsh Mahajan. He, however, later said that he would not press for it. Vikramaditya had also lost the sports and youth affairs in the rejig to accommodate new ministers. He has also been reportedly upset after notices were issued to public works department officials over developmental projects inaugurated by him and his mother, state Congress unit chief Pratibha Singh.
Cabinet approves excise policy
The cabinet gave its approval to the Excise Policy for the Financial Year 2024-25 and accorded sanction to engage 1,000 multi-task workers in the animal husbandry department to support veterinary officers.
The cabinet gave its nod to fill 30 posts of JOA (IT) in the public works department and four vacant posts of senior draughtsman in the architect wing of the PWD.
It also decided to purchase 10 food safety vehicles and hire the services of 10 food analysts, 10 attendants and 10 drivers in the health department.
The cabinet gave its nod to include more areas of panchayats Mashobra and Beolia under the ambit of Shimla municipal corporation to provide better facilities to the residents.
With PTI inputs