Stormy start, 5 Congress MLAS suspended in HP
SHIMLA: The budget session of the Himachal Pradesh assembly got off to a stormy start in Shimla on Friday with belligerent opposition Congress legislators interrupting governor Bandaru Dattatreya’s address and surrounding him as he left the House, leading to the suspension of five MLAS for the entire session.
Speaker Vipin Parmar placed leader of opposition Mukesh Agnihotri and four other Congress members Harshwardhan Chauhan, Satpal Singh Raizada, Sunder Singh and Vinay Kumar under suspension for the session.
Trouble started soon after the governor began his address at 11am with Agnihotri interrupting to claim that Dattatreya had skipped a major portion of his speech and had chosen to stay mum on inflation, unemployment and other concerns of the state. This led to an argument between treasury and opposition benches. Parmar tried to pacify both sides but in vain. Amid the sloganeering, he adjourned the House till 1pm and announced that the governor’s speech should be considered read.
Scuffle between MLAS
The acrimony continued outside the House with Congress MLAS raising slogans against the BJP government and blocking gate number one used by the Speaker.
A scuffle ensued between the ruling and Opposition members as they surrounded the governor’s car. Chief minister Jai Ram
Thakur and Parmar were seen trying to ensure a safe exit for Dattatreya.
Opposition members stood in front of the governor’s car and stopped the vehicle from moving. They exhibited copies of the governor’s address, which led to a scuffle between the ruling members and the Opposition. Deputy speaker Hansraj along with tribal affairs minister Ram Lal Markanda and forest minister Rakesh Pathania were also involved in the scuffle.
After the BJP legislators and security staff cleared the way for the governor’s vehicle, the agitated members flung copies of the governor’s address on his car.
Later, Agnihotri said that the governor’s address was a “bundle of lies”.
“There’s nothing in it. Not a word on inflation, unemployment and issues concerning the state. It’s for the first time that the state governor could not complete his address in the House and ran away,” he said. He claimed that Asha Kumari, the lone Congress woman legislator at the spot, was manhandled by ruling party members.
Dattatreya extols govt’s performance Himachal Pradesh governor Bandaru Dattatreya on Friday lauded the Jai Ram Thakur-led state government for steps it took to deal with the pandemic during his address on the first day of the budget session. However, he had to cut short his address after the Opposition interrupted him during the customary speech.
Noting that the virus had raised challenges across the world, he said the state government had taken several preventive measures to control the spread of the infection much before the nationalwide lockdown was imposed.
“The arrival of tourists to the state and inter-state buses were prohibited. All educational institutions were also closed. In addition, the budget session had to be adjourned. After lockdown was imposed the government demonstrated outstanding leadership by ensuring regular supply of all the essential services and fulfilling daily needs,” said the governor.