Himachal Assembly adjourned sine die, BJP walks out
Himachal Pradesh Assembly adjourned sine die on Friday even as the BJP walked out of the house over charges of not being allowed enough time to speak on the motion of thanks.
The motion of thanks was adopted Thursday after the Governor’s address.
Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania on Friday tried to convince the BJP members citing rules of the house but they walked out raising slogans.
The BJP, which sits in the opposition, said that names of three opposition and four ruling party members were finalised to participate in the debate but the chair later added names of more members of the ruling party.
The Speaker said that the chair has special power and privilege to take decisions and had allowed other members to speak only after discussion.
Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri also urged the members to let the proceedings continue in a cordial atmosphere.
When the BJP members left the house, Agnihotri said he already had an inkling that the opposition would walk out. ”The opposition can only speak but not listen.” The newly elected members of the house were administered oath and Kuldeep Singh Pathania was elected Speaker during the three-day-long first session of 14th assembly which saw two walkouts by the BJP. Jai Ram Thakur, the leader of the opposition, had to skip the session as he left for Rajasthan due to the death of his father-in-law, while the chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, had gone to Delhi. The motion of thanks was moved by Sanjay Rattan (Congress) and seconded by Chander Shekhar (Congress). During the debate, Agnihotri also urged the cement industry to run their plants properly and give the people their due. ”The regime has changed and you should also change,” he said, adding that the government was with the truck operators and would protect the interests of truckers. The cement industry and truck unions are at loggerhead over freight charges. Accusing the previous BJP government of pushing the state into debt, Agnihotri said that the BJP government raised loans worth Rs 27,000 crore during its tenure and the total money the state owed was Rs 75,000 crore.
The BJP government should apologise to the public for putting a huge debt burden on the state, he added.
Justifying the decision of the government to de-notify around 900 institutions, the Deputy CM said that Rs 5,000 crore were required to make these institutions functional but no budgetary provision was made by the previous government.
People have rejected the BJP and it should accept this fact and change its attitude, Agnihotri said.
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