The winter session of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly begins in Dharamshala on November 26, with the opposition BJP all set to corner the ruling party for plans to celebrate three years of Congress government in the state in the midst of debate on postponement of the Panchayati Raj Institution elections on the pretext of the state not coming to normal after a natural calamity earlier this year.
The ten-day Assembly session from 26 November to December 5 will have eight sittings in all.
“It is really a matter of concern that the government, which is deferring the Panchayat elections, holding that the state roads are not normalised after heavy rains in Monsoons this year, has chosen the worst-affected Mandi district for the celebration of three years of its completion,” said Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur.
BJP has already planned a protest rally against the government, which it says has fooled people with its poll guarantees to come into power, on December 4.
The winter session, which will shift the focus of the entire administration from state capital Shimla to Dharamshala, is likely to be stormy with the BJP prepared to grill the government on unfulfilled promises, including one lakh jobs annually, Rs 1500 per month to women aged above 18 years and purchase of milk at Rs 100/litre. The BJP may also rake up the issue of closure of institutions in different departments and an attempt to dilute Section 118 of the Tenancy and Land Reform Act, 1972.
BJP has alleged that the government has totally stalled the development of Himachal Pradesh with its unending quest for ‘Vyvastha Parivartan’, which is nothing more than ‘Vyavastha Pattan’, as the established norms are being destroyed. The party is up against the government for not distributing disaster relief to the people who lost everything in the natural calamity in Mandi district and other areas of the state.
The ruling party members too are geared up to give a befitting reply to the BJP, listing its own achievements in three years, and by bringing into light the opposition’s internal fighting, the Central government’s non-cooperation in releasing funds and recent controversies surrounding some BJP MLAs.
It is going to be the longest winter session of the state Assembly in Dharamshala. The session has been advanced from December to November this year because of the heavy rush of tourists in Dharamshala during the winter months.
“We have received 744 questions this time, both starred and unstarred. All the questions have been submitted online, although we had made arrangements for submission of questions off line also,” said Vidhan Sabha Speaker, Kuldeep Singh Pathania. He said the Vidhan Sabha Secretariat has received seven notices under Rule 101, 16 under Rule 130,11 notices under Rule 62 and one notice under Rule 324.
The winter session of the state Assembly, which was started in Dharamshala for political reasons to give the lower areas some precedence two decades back, leads to a drain on finances every year as the whole government and the administration shift to Dharamshala, with bookings in all the hotels. The practice that was started by former Congress CM, Virbhadra Singh, has continued as such-despite the fact that all the successive governments have been crying for a fund crunch. None of the governments so far has dared to decide to do away with the winter session in Dharamshala, fearing the wrath of the lower areas.
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